An Uzumaki Tale part:1
by Black Magic99
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki, the dead-last of his class hides who he really is from all but one.His childhood friend Hinata Hyuuga. Together their power will only grow and the village will never know. They focus instead on the "Demon Brat" doing what ever they can to get at him, but how much will he stand until he breaks. This is his story. Part:1 of 3 This is my first story hope you enjoy.
1. How It Began

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Naruto

"Talking"

"_Thinking, Flashback"_

"**Demon Talking"**

"_**Demon Thinking"**_

* * *

"GET HIM"

"GET THE DEMON"

"THAT DEMON TOOK AWAY MY WIFE AND DAUGHTER, SEND IT BACK TO HELL WHERE IT BELONGS"

"LET'S FINISH WHAT THE FOURTH STARTED"

Angry shouts like these could be heard coming from the usually peaceful and quite village of Konoha. Why these shouts could be heard is because tonight is October 10 and fourth anniversary of the night that the legendary nine tailed demon fox Kyuubi attacked the village. The Kyuubi had killing hundreds of shinobi and villagers including the fourth Hokage who had managed to defeat the demon by sealing it in a baby boy just an hour old, but died as a result of performing such a task. Everyone old enough to understand what happened know that, but most were so full grief that they believed that the poor boy was the demon itself.

When the reinstated third Hokage saw this he passed a law stating that anyone whom spoke of the demon would be instantly put to death in hope that the boy would live a peaceful life and be able to make friends his age. He even wrote that the beast had been killed by the Fourth in the official report, but his actions were not enough the stop the hatred against the boy for what he had inside him. The villagers told their children to avoid contact with him, they encouraged them to pick on him, and the adults did the same. People had even stopped adopting orphans from the orphanage he stayed at until the owners quite forcefully kicked him out at age three.

When the Third heard this he gave the boy an apartment and a monthly allowance so the boy could buy the necessities like food and water, but for the villagers this provided another way to show their hatred to the boy. The shop keepers only sold the boy expired food at three times the normal price, the teacher either taught him wrong or not at all, the clothing stores refused him and the one that let him in only sold him a bright orange KILL ME jump suit, and all the restaurants refused to give him anything even the scraps. The only restaurant that let the boy eat is a little ramen stand called "Ichiraku" owned by a man named Teuchi and his daughter Ayame. Both like the boy and would adopt him but the council would not allow it, so they are as nice and friendly to the boy as they can.

But all that neglect and abuse is not enough to vent off the villagers angers of the demon. That vent is provided on the same day as the monster's attack. On the tenth of October the entire village would celebrate the defeat of the Kyuubi, but when night can around and the people left the bars in various states of drunkenness the civilians and even some shinobi would form mobs and go "Demon Hunting" which consist of finding, chasing, and beating the boy within an inch of his life. The Third would be too busy with all the paperwork the festival caused that by the time he realizes what was happening it would be too late. The planned mob started last year, started again a year later, and is planned to continue for years to come.

The Third gave a sigh; he had grown attached to the boy even thinking him to be his grandson. "I'm sorry Minato," grieved the Third looking up from his paperwork to stare at a picture of his predecessor. "I've failed to achieve your last wish, the villager's hatred for the beast that the boy protects us from every day is directed at said boy and they do not see him as the hero as you had wanted," said the Third adding this fact to his ever growing list of failures (oblivious That the boy is now running for his life…again). He looked at a smaller picture on his desk that had a picture of the boy smiling which put a smile on the old man's face. No matter what happened to the boy he always had a smile on his face.

What the Hokage didn't know was that the smile was just a defensive mask to hide the pain he felt. The pain of not having parents who loved him or even knowing who they were was bad. The pain of having everyone he meets avoid, or mistreat him was bad. The pain of all the glares of pure hatred and harsh whispers people say when they think he can't hear them like "There goes that monster, we should have killed it long before now", "You see that thing don't go near it. It is dangerous", and "Why did the Hokage let that thing live? Does he not care about our safety?" was bad. But the pain of being alone hurt him the most. To the boy the physical beating were nothing compared to being alone. (But they still hurt like hell)

This boy's name is Naruto Uzumaki.

* * *

(Location: Somewhere in Konoha)

Naruto Uzumaki was running for his life from a mob for reasons he did not know.

"_Why do they all hate me so much?"_ Is what Naruto thought as he turned right on a T-street, but quickly went the other way when he saw a group of people ( smaller than the one already chasing him) with weapons from beer bottles to a rusted katana.

Naruto thought back to earlier that day.

(Flashback)

_Naruto was on his way to the Hokage's Office to celebrate his birthday with his surrogated grandfather._

"_I wonder what jiji got me this year. Whatever it is I don't think it would be better than the apartment I got last year," he thought,_**(A/N: He is a four year old boy where before he was abused and had to share everything he got getting the smaller to non-existing piece of it at the orphanage. So getting an apartment that was only his was gold)**_ "Maybe he will even tell me who my parents are." _

_Every time he asked the Hokage about his parents he said that he didn't know them but they had died from their injuries after the Fourth killed the Kyuubi. But something about the way he says it makes Naruto think that he is lying._

_He hoped that if he was a lying it was about not knowing them and not about them dying. If they hadn't died than maybe they never showed themselves because they didn't wa-._

"_NO!" he practically yelled in his head (waking up a certain someone) "I will not think like. This is my Birthday, and I will not let bad thoughts and ruin my good day," he thought turning into restaurant filled street._

_His entire day had been one big festival. There were all different types of booths selling food and sweets, anti-Kyuubi stuff, or things to honor those who had died. Not that Naruto was allowed near any of these, but he did take some food from some stands when the owners weren't looking (he left correct change)._

_Naruto had enjoyed the day very much. Everywhere he looked he saw people with smiles on their faces. The people who could only scowl were, happy. The entire crowd, no, the entire village was happy. Hell even the air seemed happy._

_Naruto had gone home when the festival ended with a smile on his face, a true smile._

_What Naruto didn't know was that the people of Konoha went to the bars for 3-5 hours after the festival to drink their sorrows away, and that the street that he turned on was the one with the most popular bars, and it was closing time._

"_Maybe me and Jiji will go to_ _Ichiraku's and eat some ramen," thought Naruto, "aaaaawwwww….ramen." Naruto started to drool at the thought of what he considers the food of Kami, and did not pay attention to where he was going and bumped into a man._

"_Hey…. W-watch…it," the man slurred out._

"_Sorry. I didn't see you," Naruto apologize as the man turned around._

"_Hey I k-know y-you. You're that d-damn Ky-Kyuubi brat who killed my son." The man said as his anger started to build._

"_Wha?" was all Naruto could say. "Why does this old drunk think I killed his son? I don't even know him. Wait did he just call me the Kyuubi," was going through his mind._

"_And now you want to finish me off, do ya, well think again." The man then walked into one of the bars and yelled, "Hey everybody that damn demon just attacked me in the street. I will not have the monster that killed my son and attack me go unpunished. WHO'S WITH ME!?"_

"_Man that guy was drunker than I thought, first he thinks I'm a demon that died twelve years ago, then he thinks I killed his son, now he's trying to get other people to hurt me. I know most people don't like me (why, he did not know) but this guy is nuts," Naruto muttered as he turned to find the Hokage Tower, but stopped when he heard…_

"_I'M IN. THAT DEMON KILLED MY WIFE!" he heard someone shout._

"_THAT MONSTER KILLED MY BEST FRIEND AND CRIPPLED MY DAUGHTER!" he heard another yell._

"_MY BABY STILL IS AFRAID TO SLEEP BECAUSE OF WHAT IT DID THAT NIGHT!" he heard a woman. _

"_I SAY WE FINISH WHAT THE YONDAIME STARTED AND KILL THE KYUUBI. WHO'S WITH ME!?"_

_Naruto heard a collective "YA!" as more and more people started crowding the streets. Naruto was getting worried as the get closer yell how he damaged this, and killed that. "Why… w-why are they saying I did such bad thing. I didn't do all those things, did I? This many people couldn't be wrong, could they?"_

_Naruto felt a sharp pain in his cheek as a kunai blurred passed. _**(A/N: Think of what Anko did)**

"_Hey look at that, the beast can bleed!"_ shouted_ a guy in a chunnin vest._

"_If that monster can bleed than it can be killed!" yelled a civilian in his mid-thirties _

**(A/N: Got that from a movie… forgot which)**

_Now Naruto was really scared. He slow started to back away as the mob grew._

_The mob itself was like a pot of boiling water. Every time someone said, "We should kill it now," "We most avenge the ones that thing murdered," etc… it was just more water and heat being added to the pot, until finally…_

"_LET'S KILL HIM. FOR THE YONDAIME!" some person in the back shouted._

"_FOR THE YONDAIME!" the mob yelled in one voice and charged. _

_The pot boiled over._

(End Flashback)

When the chase started Naruto's goal to get to the Hokage tower had all but tripled, but it ended when a smaller mob cut him off. Now lost and hunted in his own city all Naruto could do was run.

* * *

Naruto looked behind him to see that he had lost the mob, for now. He took this time to rest and looked at himself in a building window with a diamond on it. To put in simple he looked terrible. His jumpsuit had so many tears in it that it looked like it went through a shredder. He had many cuts, bruises, and swells all over his body. He'd been running for so long that his hair was no longer in the usual spikes, but clung to his head and tinted red with his blood. (coughcoughspoilercoughcough) And there was a large bump on his forehead.

Naruto had gotten caught by the mob four times, but they didn't catch him, no, he was faster than the average chunnin, Naruto had turned the corner and ran into one of the mob patrols. After the mob had him restrained, they proceeded to beat him. The only reason he escaped was because 1-4 ninja showed up and the villagers quickly abandoned him allowing Naruto to make his getaway, only to have the ninja join the mob starting the chase over again. This has happened 3 of the 4 times. The fourth time he got caught the mob had started to beat him with everything but the kitchen sink, oh wait… the villager that lived in the house they were in front of threw that very thing out of the third story window (screeching about how the demon woke her up from her nap) missing Naruto by a mere two inches. (providing a good distraction because the mob started to yell at the woman for almost killing them, then for letting the demon get away)

He looked up at the sky. It was a cloudless night, all the stars were in the sky as well as the moon. It was a truly beautiful, peaceful, and perfect night (besides the fact that he might die tonight, most of the village called for his death, there were mob patrols looking, and different part of the were on fire, yup, aside from that perfect)

Naruto anger and confusion rose and started to shift his feet hard in the dirt road trying to quietly vent his anger. _"Why me? What had I ever done to all those people? What could I have done to them? I'm only four."_ His thoughts started to take a turn, _"But those people, they all said I was the Kyuubi. There has to be at least a thousand of them and they all believe it. Could that many people be wrong?"_ He looked in the window for any fox-like features about him. The first things he noticed were his whisker-marks "Well my birthmarks sort of look like whiskers, but that has nothing to do with the fox, does it, na." Naruto grinned at the thought, but disappeared when he remembered Ayame what said once.

(Flashback)

"_You know Naruto, I've never seen anyone eat more than one bowl of ramen at you age," said Teuchi as naruto worked on his ninth. _

"_But old man your ramen is Kami's food so I have to eat as much as I can before he takes it back," said Naruto as he finished his bowl, leaned back in his seat, patted his bulging stomach, and sighed with a huge grin on his face._

_This commit caused Teuchi to start laughing a mad man._

_This was the scene that Ayame in on. "Hi Naruto-kun, just finished lunch I see," she said with a giggle at Naruto's content look, she was amazed with how much ramen he could eat. Turning to her father, "Tou-son if you keep that up than I will be forced to call the shinobi to take you to a mental home," her arms across her chest._

"_Ayame-nee-chan!" said Naruto as he got out of his seat to hug the one he considered a sister._

"_It's good to see you too Naruto-kun," she said pushing out if the hug and ruffling his hair. (Teuchi gave her a two week vacation)_

"_Hey Naruto-kun."_

"_What nee-chan?"_

"_Did anyone ever tell you that you have the grin of an intelligent fox?" Ayame asked_

_Naruto didn't answer. He just gave his nee-chan one of his rare true smiles at being compared to something intelligent._

_Through their conversation, Teuchi was still laughing. When he settled down he ended up paying for Naruto's meal for getting him in his good mood and a good laugh, but quickly told him that it was not going to be an every time thing._

_Naruto pouted for a little before leaving the duo promising to be back soon._

(End Flashback)

"_Maybe it was a coincidence that she said 'fox'" _he thought._ "Maybe I'll ask the Hokage about this 'if I survive' oh no, The Hokage!" "What if he thinks I'm the Kyuubi?" "What if he gets mad if he thinks I'm trying to trick?" "What if… _(Naruto gulps)_ what if he is sent to Ibiki?" _He didn't know him but he had heard that if you do something really bad you go to him.

"_No, if I was the Kyuubi than the Hokage would've done something by now."_

Now that he was somewhat rested he decided that it was way past time to leave the open street. As he was turning to leave a glint from the spot he had been standing caught his eye. Where his feet had rubbed against the ground a red thing was now. As he bent down to pick it up a kunai flew were his head had just been breaking the window.

"Damn it stupid demon just stay still," yelled a genin in his twenties

Naruto, once he got his bearing together, picked up the red thing and ran.

The yells of the genin had alerted many of the patrol mobs to what had just happened and they started closing in on Naruto's position.

Naruto could hear the mobs getting closer to him. His body had not fully recovered from the last couple of hours, and was losing energy fast.

"_Someone please help me," _Naruto's thoughts begged as he close his eyes to send his thoughts to Kami. His body started to slow down and the mob started too caught up to the fastest four year old they know of.

"Oomph," came the voices of two children.

Naruto, not looking where he was going, ran into some one…again.

Naruto look up at the person he ran into hoping that it was not another mobster. Sitting in front of him was a girl around his age with dark blue hair and strange white eyes that had a hint of lavender. She was pretty and for some reason somewhat familiar and for a second he thought Kami had answered him and sent him an angle.

That second ended when he saw the fear clearly visible on her face.

"_I guess I don't look to great, I wonder why," _Naruto thought with crud sarcasm.

"I THINK THE DEMON IS UP AHEAD," came a voice in the closing distance, waking Naruto from his stupor.

Panicking, he frantically looked for some place to hide because his body was too exhausted to run anymore. He saw a dead-end ally and quickly hid behind a dumpster. Once he was hidden from the street, he held himself in a tight ball and held the thing that had previously saved his live tightly in his hands. Hoping that the mob would not find him, and if they did (which was more than likely) than he would have a quick death. (Which was not so likely)

It all depended on the girl with the white lavender tinted eyes. (Naruto's hopes were not high)

* * *

(Hinata)

Hinata Hyuuga had had a wonder full time at the festival. It was the first time that she could have fun in public.

Hinata is from the Hyuuga Clan that is famous for their eyes that contain the Byakugan, second to only the Uchiha Clan in terms of power and popularity. The Hyuuga is a Clan that have a strong belief in tradition and manners.

The clan is divides by birth into two houses, The Main and The Branch House. The Main House is supposed to have the powerful and important members, while The Branch House is supposed to serve and protect the Main House. (Hinata did not understand or like that rule)

The Hyuuga Clan members are also really good at reading emotion and body movements. So everyone as a static face showing no emotion at all times inside the compound, so that no one will know what they are thinking.

This is how Hinata is raised so she love to be outside the compound… it's too depressing in there for her.

So when it was time for the festival she couldn't have been happier. She had switched her normal black training shirt and pants for a pretty white kimono that was tinted pink and waited for her chunnin protector, Kurenai. Kurenai had been her guardian whenever she was away from the compound since her failed kidnaping the year earlier.

Kurenai is one of the most recognized kunoichi in the village, because of her looks and her cloths. She was of average hieght with shoulder leigth wild black hair and red eyes, in her rose thorn style dress she was one that most of the male population wanted for a girlfriend. Now she wore a purple dress with scattered yellow flowers and a red ribbon around her waist, her hair was the same though **(A/N: the one in the season two song opening)** not that it didn't increase the males feelings.

When she arrived Hinata instantly started to envy her because she thought she would never be as pretty as her, but that didn't ruin her day. She played games, saw a funny puppet show about the Kyuubi's defeat, and eat some of the food. At one of the booths she saw a blond kid steal some food, she was about to tell someone but he put money on the stand so she didn't._ "Why did the boy look familiar?"_

After the festival, Kurenai took her to a friend's house (one with purple hair) to have dinner before taking her home. The lady was nice and was a really good cook, she wanted to cook like that. (caugh) After dinner the two adults told stories of their adventures, before they had to leave.

"Hinata, I forgot to tell Yugao something. Stay here okay." Kurenai said as they were about to exist the door.

"Hai Kurenai-san," said Hinata as she left

After about two minutes the girl's four year-old mind began to wander. She quickly scanned the content of the room to see if she had missed anything in her earlier looks, to her disappointment she hadn't. Her attention turned to the street and saw nothing of interest.

She was about to go look for Kurenai but stopped, _"Why is it so bright outside? I thought the sun had set?"_ Her glaze rose to the sky,_ "Wow, I never know that the moon was so bright,"_ she thought as she drifted into the middle of the street, bathing in the moon light. It was a cloudless night all the stars were in the sky as well as the moon. It was a truly beautiful, peaceful, and perfect night, until a moving mass crashed into her.

"Oomph," came the voices of two children.

Hinata looked up at the thing that ran into her and saw a sweaty, orange, bloody thing lying there. Fear petrified her so that she couldn't move. Then the thing looked up and she saw that it was just a boy, her age in fact.

The boy had blond hair but it looked more red because of the blood. (cough) He had three whisker marks on each cheek. He wore a "KILL ME" orange jumpsuit that was all cut up, it looked recent. And he had multiple injuries.

Fear and disgust spread to her face, _"What happened to him?!" she thought. _

She guessed that she didn't hide her emotions well because when he looked at her face, his expression turned thoughtful.

"_I know you," _Hinata suddenly thought, _"but where?"_ She looked at his face, _"You were the one that took food at the festival! But it was before that, right?"_ She started to study his appearance, _"His hair, it was a little less red. … His cloths, they weren't these but they were still cut. … He-h-he was hurt?"_ She thought deep, _"Were do I know you?!" _Then it came to her, "You s-s-saved me" she said barely above a whisper.

"I THINK THE DEMON IS UP AHEAD," came a voice in the closing distance.

"_What, demon? Where?" _she thought frantically, but stopped when she saw the panicked look on the boy's face. He looked around and hobbled in an alley behind a trash can.

As soon as the boy was out of sight, a large group of people with different weapons stopped in front of her.

"Hey, isn't that a Hyuuga? Maybe she can see the dem-(hey that hurt) boy."

"No she's too young, but she must've seen him."

"Ya your right, someone ask her where the dem- (stop with the elbow) boy went."

Hinata was scared (who wouldn't be scared if a mob with weapon saying stuff about demons wanted to talk to you plus she's four) as a man in his mid-forty's with a katana walked up to her.

"Miss Hyuuga-sama," the man said with much sweetness and respect, "We are looking for _something_ that has severely wronged us in the past so that it will never do so again. Would you be so kind as to show us where it went," the man asked with an evil look in his eyes.

Hinata looked at the man _"Are they talking about the boy?"_ she thought. _"These people hurt the boy that saved me."_

Hinata slowly nodded and pointed to a street opposite to the alley.

"She said he went that way. Let's get him!" "YA!" with that the mob proceeded to charge down the street, all but one. A genin with white hair looked suspiciously at the alley.

"_Oh no, they're going to find the boy!" _Thought a panicking Hinata.

"Hey Mizuki, what are you doing you're going to miss your chance to get the dem-(damnit I think you're enjoying this) boy.

The newly named Mizuki looked at alley again then at Hinata, alley, Hinata. "Ya I'm coming" and left

Hinata let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and fell on her butt.

"Hinata," said Kurenai as she walk towards her, "what are you doing out here, I thought I told you to stay by the door."

"S-s-sorry Kurenai-san," Hinata said still nervous

Kurenai nodded and turned to leave when she saw the form of the retreating mob. She turned and gave the girl a serious look, "A bunch of people didn't come by this way did they?"

Hinata gave a timid nod

"They didn't hurt you did they?" Kurenai asked worried something happened to her charge

"No ma'am, they asked where a boy went that came by before," she replied

"Did you tell them where he went?" Kurenai asked

Hinata slowly shook her head hoping she did not do anything bad and glanced at the ally.

Kurenai-san (missing the glance) gave a sigh. "okay Hinata let's get you home."

"Um… Kurenai-san?"

"Yes"

"Did the boy do those bad things"

"No Hinata, he did nothing wrong."

* * *

(Naruto)

Naruto just got into hiding when the mob asked the girl (who apparently was a Hyuuga) for his location.

"_This is it," _he though.

"She said he went that way. Let's get him!" "YA!"

Naruto braced himself for his end but to his surprise the mob was getting quieter until it was non-existent.

Naruto couldn't believe it, he was safe. That girl had saved him. Why did she save him? He didn't know her and she had shown him kindness. No one ever showed him that, almost nobody, so why did she?

Naruto thought hard about this, he just could not figure out why some random girl, who he ran into, was nice to him. He didn't move from that spot searching deep in his mind for that one answer and in time he fell asleep.


	2. A Wish Granted

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Naruto

"Talking"

"_Thinking, Flashback"_

"**Demon Talking"**

"_**Demon Thinking"**_

(Previously)

_Naruto couldn't believe it, he was safe. That girl had saved him. Why did she save him? He didn't know her and she had shown him kindness. No one ever showed him that, almost nobody, so why did she?_

_Naruto thought hard about this, he just could not figure out why some random girl, who he ran into, was nice to him. He didn't move from that spot searching deep in his mind for that one answer and in time he fell asleep._

* * *

Naruto woke up with a start as a drop of water fell on his head. He looked around trying to take in his surroundings. He blinked, rubbed his eyes and looked again.

He was in a large concrete tunnel that had water that went to his knees.

"_Great… just great I'm in a sewer."_

He then got a sad look, _"I guess that girl was a bad liar because that mob must have found me and put me here." "Wait when did Konoha get a sewer this big. I've hid in most but never found this one." _He thought as he walked down the tunnel, but stopped when he heard…

"**Well look who decided to show up after he woke me up for my sleep."** Came a demonic feminine growl.

Naruto looked around but couldn't see anyone or anything. "W-who's t-there" he shouted trying to see farther down the tunnel. "S-show yours-self or are you scared," he continued trying to put on a brave face. All he got was a chuckle.

"**Well aren't you brave little one… very well if you want to see me come forward."**

Naruto debated on what to do. On one hand he could go in the other way and try to find an exit or he could go to the very scary voice that could very well be a trap. Against his better judgment, he decided to chance it.

Naruto carefully crept forward as he prepared himself for a possible ambush.

How under prepared he was.

In front of him was gate that had a piece of paper with the kanji symbol "seal" on it. On the other side of the gate was a gigantic orange fox with nine tails waving in the air.

"**Well you are younger than I thought, but then again I was not expecting you for another nine years," **the fox said with a toothy grin.

Naruto just stood there in shock as he looked at the demon he thought was dead._ "NO. It's not possible. How is it here?" _

"**First you wake me from my sleep, and then you just stand there. Humans are such a strange race."**

"Y-y-your-you're the Ky-Ky-Ky-Kyuubi," Naruto stuttered out. "How, how are you here? The Fourth Hokage killed you so you should be in, wait, but if you went there and I'm here does that mean _I'm dead_?" he whisper.

The Kyuubi started to chuckle as she rose to her full height, **"Yes I am the Nine-Tailed Fox Kurama, strongest of all the tailed beast, and queen of the demons, and I am very much alive as are you. The thought of one such as I being killed by a mere human, even the one you call the fourth, is a laugh and an insult." **The Kyuubi said.

"But the Y-Yondaime d-defeated y-y-you," he said trying to defend his ideal _"Wait did the Kyuubi say it was the 'queen' of demons? The Kyuubi is a girl!" _his thoughts were interrupted.

"**You can't kill a bijuu brat only contain them mainly in humans who get called jinchuriki. That cursed human did just that when he sealed me inside of you,"** she growled.

"So y-you're inside m-me?"

"**That's what I just said brat,"** the beast said and started muttering stuff about stupid humans.

Fresh tears started to fall from his eyes, "The v-villagers are right, I am a m-m-monster."

"**NO YOU'RE NOT. YOU ARE A LITTLE BOY WHO IS HATED FOR SOMETHING HE DIDN'T DO!"**

"But… but you said tha-"

"**I said that I was sealed **_**inside**_** you not that **_**I was you**_**."** The Kyuubi stated. ** "Besides if you were me than you be a vixen and would have killed those villagers for just looking at you wrong. Since you're not those things than the thought of you being me is just insulting,"** she said.

Then she whipped her head around, bared her teeth, gave a low growl, and fixed a glare at Naruto. (who stumbled back and started to shiver with fear)

"**You are not insulting me. Are you little brat," **she threated.

Naruto wisely shook his head no.

"**Good, because if you were, it would've ended badly for you,"** she said with amusement.

Naruto gave a sigh of relief, then got a confused look.

"Um Kyuubi whe-"

"**Kurama"**

"What?"

"**My **_**name**_** is Kurama. If I am going to be stuck with you for the rest of your life than I want to be called something other than that title you stupid humans gave me," **she stated then muttered,** "The Kyuubi really it's shocking they got that right and didn't call me the Sanbi or something, bakas."**

"Well… um… Kyu-"

"**WHAT DID I **_**JUST SAY**_**."**

"Kurama, Kurama," Naruto shouted to make sure that the fox could hear him and not harm him.

"**Tsk"**

"Ky-KURAMA where are we?" Naruto was finally able to ask.

"**Hm… we're in your mindscape kit."**

"Um Kurama."

"**What," **she said a little annoyed.

"What is a 'minescap'," he said embarrassed at not knowing.

Kurama gave a small sweat-drop._** "Right… he is only four. I can't use complicated words,"**_ she berated herself. **"The **_**mindscape**_** is basically a land in your mind**. **It is also the location of this infernal cage," **she said throwing a claw at the bars, which just glanced off.

Naruto nodded his head and started to think about what he had just learned.

"_Okay so, 1__st__ the Kyuubi is alive, 2__nd__ the Kyuubi is sealed inside me, 3__rd__ the Fourth sealed the Kyuubi inside me, 4__th__ I am probably the only thing stopping it from destroying Konoha (he gave grin at such an accomplishment), 5__th__ I am a jinchuriki, 6__th__ the Kyuubi is a girl, 7__th__ the Kyuubi's name is Kurama, 6__th__ I am in a mine or mindscape place."_

Once he got he thoughts straight he looked at Kurama in wonder. Here in his mind is the strongest creature in the world, his mind, of all people. At that moment his young brain burst with questions.

"How old are you?"

"Who were you created?"

"Are you really the most powerful demon?"

"Could I be as strong as you?"

"Are you really a girl?"

"Am I your first jinchuriki?"

Kurama was getting more and more annoyed as her container continued his question assault. Her annoyance was quickly turning to anger,_** "Will he ever shut up?"**_

"Why did you attack Konoha?" as soon as the question came out he was hit with a blast of KI.

"**If you are smart boy than you will not ask me that."**

"But… but what happened?" You-you killed a lot of people and everyone blames me for it. I just want to know why," he asked in a small voice.

Kurama let the KI die down and rested her head on her paws.

"**I will tell you when you are older, just leave it at that," **she said with a sad sigh.

Naruto wanted to protest but he heard the tone the Kyuubi used and dropped it.

Naruto looked over the fox again thinking about the next question he was going to ask when he suddenly thought of one.

"Kurama do you want to be friends?" he asked with a smile.

"**What?" **she asked truly shocked.

"Do you want to be my friend?"

She looked at him for a minute as if in thought.

Naruto's hope was rising with the thought of finally having a friend every second that passing until it immediately died when she burst out laughing.

"**Hahaha…me… Kurama, queen of demons… being friends… with a a human, a human of all creatures, oh that's rich,"** as she continued to laugh for a good ten minute making Naruto feel worse and worse.

"**Don't take it the wrong way kit," **she said as she started to calm down,** "but humans are not very high on my favorite species list. One of the few I could truly get along with was my last container. And I do have a reputation to keep after all and being friends with a human will not help it. And I will tell you about her later." **She said stopping his question and lying back down to rest. _**"Friends with a human, really"**_

Naruto closed his mouth and wondered about the woman who could get on the legendary Kyuubi's good side. _"Wow… she must have been so cool."_

"**Now get out of here."**

"What?"

"**I said get out, wake up, scram the point is I want you to leave so I can get back to sleep."** She said taking slow, deep breaths.

"But I don't want to leave. I have so many more question to ask."

"**I bet you do and if you ask then all I will never get to sleep."** She stated.

Naruto's body started to fade. "What is happening!" he shouted as he panicked.

"**You are waking up. By the way, I would move my head to the left if I were you."**

"Will I ever see you again?" "_Move my head to the what?... crazy fox."_

"**Sadly yes, but only when I am ready for you will that happen."**

Naruto nodded as his body faded from the mindscape.

"_**Well Kushina… you created one interesting kit,"**_ Kurama thought in amusement as she drifted off to sleep.

(Outside Mindscape)

"_Ow! Ow! Ow! Why does my body hurt so mu- oh ya right…I was nearly killed. What is that noise?"_ he thought as he tried to open his eyes.

"Damnit demon I said move your ass off my property."

Naruto rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

"Well if me yelling at ya won't make you move then-_shiiiiing_\- than maybe this will…oomph."

Naruto opened his eyes and saw something coming at him at a high speed.

"thud"

Naruto's eyes went as wide as saucers as he looked at the butcher knife that was embedded in the wall by his head. He had yawned and tilted his head to the left when the knife passed his head cutting off a very thin layer of skin on his ear.

"Damnit I missed."

Naruto's eyes focused on the person that threw the knife. She was a civilian woman probably in her mid-thirties with a white apron on.

"Maybe I should ask my son for lessons on how to throw a knife so I won't miss next time. O-well practice makes perfect," she muttered as she went for another knife. When she came back to the ally all she could see was a dust trail leading away.

"Um… mom what are you doing?"

"Nothing sweetie, just saw some creature by the trash and made it leave."

"Mom you can't call me _sweetie _any more. I am a ninja now."

"YOU COULD BE HOKAGE, BUT I AM YOUR MOTHER SO I CAN ANYTHING I WANT. _DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?"_

"Y-yes ma'am!"

"Good now what do want for breakfast?"

"_Troublesome woman."_

"What was that sweetie?"

"Nothing, I want the dish from last night!"

"Okay"

* * *

Naruto was walking down the street his apartment thinking about what had happened last night. "Well at least I know why everyone hates me, well not me Kurama."

He decided that he better look where he was going so not to bump into anyone again

"Don't want that to happen again."

He saw the looks people gave him as he passed, they were looks of annoyance and dislike not the white hot hatred that they had the night before. "Kurama's right these people are stupid there has to be at least some who know I'm not the Kyuubi if I was the chances of these people living are slim to none if the stories about her are true. I'll show them I'm not the Kyuubi I'll be the greatest ninja ever, I AM NARUTO UZUMAKI JINCHURIKI OF KURAMA AND I WILL BE THE GREATEST HOKAGE EVER, BELIEVE IT." His face sported a grin as he got to a spot that had a clear view of the Hokage Monument. As he looked over the different faces of the pasted Hokages his eyes settled on the fourth.

"Greater even than you" he thought.

Naruto had different thoughts when it came to the Yondaime Hokage. He felt incredible anger at him not for what was done to him (so far Kurama was not that bad, just really scary when she wanted to be) he was mad at what he has caused him. Because of him no one was nice to him except for the Third, the Ichiraku people... and that Hyuuga girl. But on the other hand the young boy could somewhat understand his motives for doing so. Ever since he could remember he has heard people talk about how great, and powerful the Fourth. He has also heard about the level of damage Kurama had caused and according to her there is no one who is as powerful as her. And if that is true than sealing her was the only way to stop her. "Maybe I was just the closest, so he choose to seal her in me," he thought cursing he luck.

As Naruto made his way into his apartment he thought about the man he saw as a grandfather. "I wonder if jiji knows about me being a jinchuriki… of course he knows he's the hokage. But why did he not tell me? Why did he say that Kurama was dead, he had to know that you can't kill a bijuu so why did he lie?" the thought of one of the few people that was nice to him lying to him was not a feeling that Naruto liked.

Then he thought about the one that had saved him. He had never met her, had he? She looked familiar and had been nice how him by leading that mob away from him. He hadn't done anything to her, well, except for her except run into her. Naruto thought she would want him punished for that action, that bastard did. But instead of having him hurt like so many did she had saved him. "Why did she save me?"

That is the question that was stuck in the boy's mind for the next six month and for the life of him he could not find any answer.

"Why?"

* * *

(Six Months Later)

(Hinata)

"Hinata sweetie it is such a nice day today how about I take you to the park so you can play with children you age, besides I think there will be a clan meeting today and I would rather enjoy the day than be in a daylong meeting wouldn't you?" Haruka asked her daughter.

"Hai mother, let me get ready and we can leave," Hinata said as she hurried to get ready.

Haruka giggled at the sight of her daughter rushing to get ready, "She just wants to leave the compound, not that I blame her this place is way too depressing."

"I'm ready." Hinata said stopping in front of her mother with a smile on her face.

"Alright. Neji-kun would you be so kind as to tell Hiashi that Hinata and I will be at the park for the day?" she asked her nephew with a kind smile.

"Of course Haruka-sama," he said with a bow and a rare true smile reserved only for her.

"Thank you Neji-kun. Let's we go sweetie?" she said heading to the door.

"Coming mother," came a voice behind her.

* * *

(Naruto)

Naruto woke up with the sunlight in his eyes. "Urgh… is it day time already? Well I better get up and start my day. Maybe I can get some ideas for a new prank in the village today."

With that in mind he reluctantly crawled out of his bed to start his day. He walked around his messy apartment looking for some close that could pass as clean because his jumpsuit was ruined and the store that sold it to him either had none in stock or just didn't want to sell him any, it was probably the latter. After about five minutes of looking he found a pair of shorts and a black shirt that had a red swirl on the back.

Now dressed he went to his kitchen and started to heat water for his instant ramen breakfast. As he waited for the water to heat up he went to finish his morning ritual.

After he finished his breakfast he was about to leave when he returned to his bed and removed a plank on the floor to revile a box. Carefully opening it he pulled out a necklace before putting the box and plank back into their original position.

Standing up he looked at the object in his hands, the very same that had saved his life.

The necklace had a simple strap with a ruby. The ruby was tire-shaped and a little bigger than a quarter and about half an inch thick. What was interesting about it though was that there was a black swirl in the middle of the ruby like the one on the back of his shirt (just neater and better).

Naruto knew that this necklace was by far the most important and expensive thing that he owned. He had even went to a jeweler to see if it was real, but it did not good so well

(Flashback)

It was three days since the mob attack and Naruto was lying on his bed looking at the necklace in front of him.

"I wonder if this thing is real? If it is then maybe I can sell it and move out of this apartment."

"No I can't do that, this necklace saved my life I can't just sell it. But I wonder if it is real. It looks to pretty to be fake, but I want to know for sure."

Naruto jumped off his bed, grabbed the necklace and ran out the door to the store that had had a diamond on the now broken window.

Taking a deep breath to calm his now nervous heart he opened the door and walked inside.

The store had a lot of people in it. All of them were so busy looking at shiny and glitter rings, necklaces and bracelets that no one seemed to notice him as he made his way to the display case. He had stares in his eyes he saw all the expensive items right in front of him.

"Hey you little monster where did you get that necklace hn?" came a not so nice voice behind him.

Naruto turned to see a man in a fancy cloths glaring at him and eyeing the object in his hands.

Naruto brought it to his chest as a way to protect it, "I-I f-found it." He stuttered out.

The man looked even madder than before, "You found it, you found it, you and I both know that you're trying to steal it. I know because I saw that necklace earlier and was planning on getting it for my wife. And I am not going to let some demon brat steal something while the rest of us 'normal' people have to pay for stuff. Now hand it over."

Naruto didn't even respond as he ran out of the store. The ruby had to be real if someone was willing to make up such a lie to get it.

Naruto heard "Hey get back here with my necklace!" behind him and turned to see the fancy-cloths guy at the jewelry store door shaking his fist in a rage.

"Nope, this is my necklace now," he thought with a smile.

(End Flashback)

Naruto gave a frown at the thought, "How can people be so blind to think I am anything like the fox."

Ever since that day he had worn the necklace in hope of it bringing him luck and protection. Putting it on he put it under his shirt and looked at his refection and gave a confident smile as he pointed to himself, "You are Naruto Uzumaki and you are going to be the best future Hokage ever, BELIEVE IT!" he shouted as he ran out the door to start his day.

Naruto gave a tired and satisfied sigh as he left the Ichirahu stand after having lunch and started to wonder around with no destination in mind.

"Man it is already past noon and I still have no ideas for my next prank."

He stopped when he saw the four faces on the Hokage Monument.

His face adopted a sinister grin, "Unless"

"OW"

Naruto was rubbing his head as he picked himself off the ground and looked around for what hit him.

His eyes spotted a ball just a few feet away from his person. Picking himself up he walk to the ball and picked it up for closer examination.

"Hey over here. Could you throw the ball over here?"

Naruto turned his head to see a boy a little older than him waving his arm to get his attention.

"Throw it!" the boy shouted.

Naruto look at the boy and was about to throw the ball when he decided against it and began to walk over to the boy.

"Um… here you go," he said as he handed the ball to the boy.

"Thanks, oh, and sorry about hitting you in the head earlier. It turns out my friend was lying about his aim skills," he chuckled as he to a group of boys behind him. One of the said boys were red in the face and appeared to be giving a nervous laugh but was too far away to tell.

"So… urm… do you… think… maybe… I could… possible… play with you guys," Naruto ask carefully.

"Sure we might have enough room for you to play. Let me go ask them," he said as began to walk back with Naruto behind him with hopeful thoughts in his head.

Once they got close enough the boy called out to his friends.

"Hey guys this kid wants to play with us. Do we have room for him?"

The boys looked around and saw Naruto and two of the boys got nervous looks on their faces.

The first boy spoke, "Yeah, you can pl-"

"Um, guys could we talk about this for a second," one of the nervous boys interrupted.

The first boy looked agitated at being interrupted but saw the look on number two's face.

"Sure I guess we could talk. (Turning to Naruto) Give us a sec ok," Boy one said as he went to his friends.

Naruto just gave a slow nod, not liking the way boy two looked, as he watched the group back away to what they thought was a safe distance and couldn't be heard. The key word though was 'thought'.

(The Group)

"Dude what do you want to talk about? There aren't too many people here for him not to play," boy one asked.

"I know but I don't think it is a good idea to be around him," boy two stated.

Boy one gave a confused look.

"Why?"

"Well my kaa-san says that he is a mass killer."

Boy one just looked at his friend.

"No offence but your mom was always a bit nuts," he said.

Another boy decided to add his thoughts.

"I don't know. I heard he was a monster."

Boy one looked behind him to see Naruto staring at an anthill while he waited the looked back at two and tree.

"How could he be a killer, he looks only four or five. Not even old enough for the academy."

"Tou-san said he was a evil demon in human form, and that he looks like a kid to get close to ya and stab ya," boy three said and two nodded in agreement.

Boy one looked at them for a second then started to fake laugh.

"Hahaha that is not a very funny joke guys. That is very mean," he said.

Boys two and three shook their heads, "We're not joking, we're serious. Haven't any of you heard of the monster that lives in Konoha?" two asked hoping to have someone back up his claim.

The group thought about it seeing if they could remember anything.

"Well I heard some villagers say that after the Fourth Hokage died that a monster decided to live in the village."

"Oh kaa-san said that a demon live here and is waiting to kill everyone."

"My jiji said that a monsters human form looks real and grows the same as us to make us like it more."

The boy group kept throwing around what they remember about the topic and by the end boy one was quite nervous. He did not necessarily believe what he heard but to hear so many comments that basically say the same thing, a part of him found it true.

(Naruto)

When the boy left to go talk to his group Naruto had hoped that they would talk about something that wasn't about him, but that hope was dashed as he could hear every word that they were saying.

"I guess that Kurama has increased my hearing. (sigh) I was so close to being able to play with them. I guess kids will believe anything you tell them," he thought. He squat down to look at an anthill he found trying to divert his attention away from the group's conversation, sadly though he failed miserable.

Boy one walked over to Naruto (who had a dark rain cloud over his head) as the huddle ended.

"U-um… hey listen… you see my friends reminded me t-that… well if you play then we would have too many people, sorry," he said nervously.

Naruto felt his anger rise. Here is this boy, who just a second ago was talking to his friends about all the bad things that the villagers made-up about him, tell some crappy lie to his face.

"Ya I bet that is what they told you," he said with a glare.

"I-I-I'm s-sorry but you c-cant play, you can watch though. Please don't hurt me," he said shaking a little.

Naruto's anger vanished, "This guy is afraid of me. He like everyone else in this village think I'm a monster."

"Whatever," Naruto said sadly as he walked away from the group and sat under a tree a little further away.

* * *

(Hinata)

Haruka and Hinata were currently sitting on a picnic blanket in the middle of the park just enjoying the day. They were just relaxing and enjoying each other's company but Haruka gave a sigh of disappointment.

All throughout the day she had tried to get her daughter too social and play with children her own age, but each time she politely refused saying that she would rather stay bye her mother's side.

It is not that she didn't love to spend time with her daughter, she cherished the alone time with her, but ever since her failed kidnaping she had become shy and her only friend outside the compound is her guard Kurenai.

In the end she gave up trying and the two had lunch.

"Hey over here. Could you throw the ball over here?"

Both Hyuugas looked up to see Naruto talk to the group of boys. They saw the boys form a huddle and rejected Naruto afterwards who went to sit by a tree.

"That poor boy. I wish I could help him but Hiashi would be greatly upset if I was directly involved with the boy." She thought but then looked at her daughter and a small smile grew on her lips.

Hinata had seen the confirmation the strange blond haired boy had with the others and felt a little upset. There is the boy that saved her from being kidnaped and everyone was mean to him.

"Um Kaa-san," she started, "Would… it… be all right if I go play with that boy," she said pointing to Naruto.

Haruko took a pose as if she in thought before she replied, "Yes you can go, but behave."

"Yes mother," she said as she made her way over to the boy.

* * *

(Naruto)

Naruto brought his knees to his chest as he looked at all the boys play ball, "Why did this have to happen to me? One friend, just one friend is that too much to ask Kami. I guess it is since no one what to be around the 'demon boy'.

"Um, h-hello"

Naruto turned his head and saw the girl that had saved him. Unlike the last time he saw her she wore a black training outfit and she seemed more nervous than last time.

"H-hi my name is H-hinata."

Naruto looked at her for a second then a smile spread across his face.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to be the greatest Hokage ever, BELIEVE IT!"

Hinata was shocked at is exclamation. Naruto saw this and started to sheepishly rub the back of his head in embarrassment of his outburst. In all honesty Naruto expected to her to leave and call him an idiot or something like that but he did not expect her to start giggling into her hand.

"You're f-funny N-naruto."

He looked at her for a short while thinking if he should ask the question that had given him such a horrible rejection every time before. Something seemed to tell him that he should.

"Um… Hinata… do you… maybe… possibly… you'd want to play with me?" he once again asked.

Hinata could tell the bo-Naruto was nervous and so was she. Turning her head, she looked at her mother silently asking for permission.

"Please, Kami let her say yes. I will do anything for a friend. Please just let me have a friend."

"Um o-ok. Kaa-san s-said that i-it was ok to p-play w-with you N-naruto." She was nervous. She had never played with anyone her own age, she did not know what to do.

Naruto froze. Did she just agree to play with him? Yes she did and her mother was alright with it. He just looked at her with a blank face that slowly rose to a grin that went from ear to ear.

Quickly snatching up her hand he dragged her to the swing-set and told her to sit down while he pushed.

"O-ok," she said as she did as he asked.

And the two children did something that they have never done before; they had fun without a care in the world.

Haruko just smiled at the scene that involved her shy daughter and the outgoing blond boy.

"It seems that opposite do attract. They will be good for each other in the future," she thought with a smile.

" -sama."

Haruko turned to the one that interrupted her thoughts and saw a civilian woman in the thirties.

"Hai?"

"I would like to inform you that that thing is attacking your daughter," she said pointing to the two kids playing.

Haruko frowned, "I'm sorry but it seems that you're mistaken. I do not see this 'thing' you are referring to, just two kids playing."

The woman gave Haruko a 'are you stupid' look, "Hyuuga-sama surely you know what that boy really is, right?"

"Yes I Know that he is the one that holds the thing that tried to destroy us and he see my daughter worthy enough to play with. I feel honored,"

"But Hyuuga-sama aren't you worried that it will force itself on her?"

It was Haruko's turn to give the 'are you stupid' look, "Well if anything happens than I will put a stop to it, but until then I will let the kids have their fun."

The woman gave her a disgusted look, "I see that you are one of those demon-lovers Hyuuga-sama. If it were up to me than it would have been put to death the moment it was brought into this world," she said as she glared daggers at Naruto.

"Well than it is a good thing that this decision was made by OUR HOKAGE and not a simple civilian then. Now if that is all you had to say, please be on your way," Haruko dismissed

"Yes that all. Good day Hyuuga-sama," she rudely spoke to the demon-lover and being called simple. She walked away.

Haruko gave a sad sigh. The people of her village won't let go of their hatred toward the beast and are putting on a little innocent boy. It is quite sad really. She looked at the two who are now chasing each other. It was like the beginning scene of a romance novel she used to read as a little girl, and call her crazy she had a feeling that this was the beginning of a good one.

* * *

That day had been the day that Naruto had been dreaming/hoping for his whole life, he finally had a friend.

Since that day Naruto and Hinata could be seen playing with each other every other day and the two children quickly became best friends.

That was Naruto's life for the past two months now the two could be seen lying under a tree on opposite side with Haruko talking with some people not to far way.

Earlier that day Hinata had told him that she was going to be a big sister in about eight months followed by a game of tag and finally a picnic thinks to Haruko. (who was slowly becoming Naruto's mother figure) after eaten the two went to the tree each lost in their own thoughts.

Hinata thinking what would life as a big sister be like, while Naruto was thinking the same thing he had since he ran into his friend.

Why did she save him? He just didn't know. He had come up with tons of possible answers but he did not know if any of them were right, it was driving him crazy.

"(Sigh) Hinata"

"Y-yes"

"Why did you save me that time?"

Hinata knew what he was talking about. She had gotten to know her blond friend over the past few months to know that very few people were kind to him and he was wondering why was/is she. The answer was simple really.

"B-because N-naruto, you saved m-mine."

Out of all the possible reasons he come up with that was not one of them.

(Flashback)

_Naruto was on his way back to the village, skipping to a tone he was humming. When he was done he smiled as he thought what was to come._

_Earlier that month some bigger boys made him mad and led him to a spot where they dropped orange dyed water on his head and then proceed to laugh at him._

_Getting over his anger he asked the boys (Izumo Kamizuki, Kotetsu Hagane) why they did that. They told him that it was a prank. Still confused they told him what a prank was, why they were used, and some of their uses. As an apology they even said that they would even help with his first prank._

_That got Naruto very excited. Earlier that month a traveling storeowner that had been in the village three years ago when it was attacked threw a apple at him and left a bump. He had heard that he would be leaving the next day and would be taking the route he is on. So for he revenge he made a plan._

_He had the older boys place buckets of paint in the trees that were above the path. His part was to tie wire to the right places and lead the shop owner there. The boys would be taking payment in pictures._

_Unfortunately for him the wire had taken a lot longer than he thought forcing him to stay up as night covered the forest. It was way past his bedtime and he was tired, hungry, and in a really good mood._

_"Finally I got done with my plank, now all I got to do is wait for that big meany tomorrow. Now I tired so I need to sleep."_

_He stopped when he heard his stomach and looked down._

_"Haha it looks like you are hunger tummy. Maybe the nice noodle people will give us more food. Tummy likes their noo- what is that smell?"_

_Naruto and sniffed the air. Turning towards the smell he saw a faint light in the distance._

_"He what is that it looks like a flashy bug" he thought as he started to move towards the light._

_The closer he got to the light the brighter it got and the better the smell got._

_"Come on almost there" he thought reaching out his hands in a grabby motion._

_Then the light disappeared._

_"Hey where did flashy bug go?"_

_Disappointed he was about to head back when he heard grunts coming from where the light was. Curious he continued forward until he was in a clearing. The clearing was clear except for four things. One, there was a log near him. Two, there was a sack near the log. Three, there was a circle of rocks with gray and orange in it on the other side of the clearing (fire pit). Four, that was a man stomping in the circle eating some food on a stick._

_"Fooood. I want some but that man looks scary. I'll take some from the bag."_

_Quietly he crawled over to the bag and untied the bag._

_He was shocked that instead of food in the bag there was a little girl with dark blue hair and white lavender tinted eyes._

_"Pretty" he thought but that is not what came out._

_"Your not food," he said pointing a accusing finger at the girl._

_Despite being confused and scared as hell the girl started to giggle into her hand._

_"HEY BRAT WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!" Naruto looked up and saw the man was looking at him and he looked mad._

_"Time to go," he said as he took off running._

_"GET BACK HERE BRAT!" the man yelled as he gave chase._

_When Naruto exited the forest he started down the path again looking over his shoulder he saw the older man was following him._

_"This is fun" he thought._

_"BRAT GET BACK HERE!"_

_"YOU WILL NEVER GET ME HAHAHA"_

_"WHY YOU LITTLE"_

_The chase lasted a few minutes until Naruto recognized a certain tree._

_"Almost there just a few more steps… now"_

_Jumping as far as he could he keep running until he heard what he was waiting for._

_"Thud"_

_Stopping and turning around he saw the man was on his bottom covered in red, black, and orange paint with one of the buckets on his head._

_Completely forgetting the situation he was in he fell on his back laughing._

_Getting over his shock the man stared at the kid that did this to him forgetting about his mission he could only see red._

_"WHY YOU LITTLE BRAT. I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" he yelled as he landed his most powerful kick on the bod sending him flying into a tree head first._

_"Hn brat don't think I'm done with you."_

_He then proceeded to beat him to a pulp taking out all his anger in the process._

_"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm"_

_The blast knocked the man off of the unconscious boy killing him before he hit the ground and the path was suddenly filled of people._

_One Hokage, one Hyuuga Hiashi, two anbu, and two Hyuuga branch members._

_"Lord Hokage this is the cloud nin ambassador. Hiashi-sama's jutsu killed him." an anbu said._

_"I see and the boy?"_

_"He's alive," the anbu said with disappointment, "but he will need medical attention."_

_"Hiashi-sama." Everyone turn to see Hiashi's younger twin brother, Hizashi, appear with the girl in his arms._

_"I found Hinata-sama in a clearing not far from here. I believe little Naruto distracted the cloud nin." He informed them as Hinata walked over to see her savoir._

_"What that is non-since and I don't want to hear other wise. Am I understood."_

_"But how could yo-hu- yes lord Hiashi-sama." He said with a sigh._

_"Come lady Hinata."_

_Taking one last look at the beaten boy, she turned around to follow her family, "Hai"_

(End Flashback)

"That was you?" Naruto peering around the tree.

She nodded her head even though he couldn't see.

"Yes, a cloud nin tried to kidnap me. You saved me, thank you."

Naruto just smile, "Well I guess that means we're even right."

"Mmhmm."


	3. Coming Home

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Naruto

"Talking"

"_Thinking, Flashback"_

"**Demon Talking"**

"_**Demon Thinking"**_

* * *

(Previously)

"_That was you?" Naruto peering around the tree._

_She nodded her head even though he couldn't see._

"_Yes, a cloud nin tried to kidnap me. You saved me, thank you."_

_Naruto just smile, "Well I guess that means we're even right."_

"_Mmhmm."_

* * *

The years that followed the meeting of the two was really eventful, and those events will be stuck in their young minds forever.

The first event was more like a tragedy. Haruko had given birth to a baby girl named Hanabi but had died shortly after though the combination of childbirth and a rare Hyuuga illness that weakens the body over time.

When news of her death was told to Naruto and Hinata, Hinata had cried in Naruto's arms for a whole day until she had finally fallen asleep.

Picking her up gentle, he made his way to the Hyuuga compound where he snuck inside and placed her on her bed. Looking at her sleeping form he saw a tear roll down her face before he left to his own apartment.

Once inside he unleashed the tears he had been holding back all day full force. As he cried and mourned the loss of his mother figure and precious person, he made a silent promise to become stronger, to protect his precious people, and to never ever make Hinata cry.

In the time that followed Haruko's death had grown closer together by helping each other cope with their lose but neither fully did, thought Hinata was the worst.

She was shier and stuttered more than ever. To make matters worse for her her bastard of a father Hiashi started to train her in the Hyuuga's Gentle Fist style, punishing and berating her for every little mistake she made. Making her self-confidence basically non-existent unless she was with Naruto in private.

The second event was that the two of them entered the civilian school and then ninja academy. As he'd expected the teachers at both schools tried to sabotage Naruto's education. The teachers would purposely teach him wrong or just ignore his questions.

Hinata did not know why this was but every time she had asked him about it he just shrugged it off and told her not to worry about it. Even though it bothered her that he would not tell her, she still taught him what she'd learned to the best of her ability.

Naruto also received help from a lady with purple hair and was a little obsessed with snakes and sharp thing to be considered healthy (guess who). He had met her after he had gotten kicked out of his civilian class (for no reason) and stole her dango stick. What proceeded was a chase around the village with her trying to get it back. Once she got it back (after a major, playful, beat down) she had ask, "Ain't a brat like you suppose to be in school at this time?"

After telling his reason why he was out of school Anko (the woman if any of you did not know) adopted a scowl on her face and said that she would teach him what he needed to know if he wanted to live in the worlds that they do. When asked why she was helping him all she did was give him a sad smile that would look completely foreign to anyone that new her and said, "I know what it is like to suffer at the hands of ignorant people. Not as much as you, but I still know the feeling."

With her and Hinata's help, he managed to pass the civilian school. (Much to the teachers' frustration) Anko also managed to help Naruto with some of the academy martial before she had to stop due to new missions and responsibilities she got due to a promotion. They still see each other every now and then.

The third event that happened was a bittersweet moment for Naruto. He was in a store trying to buy some of the more healthy and edible food to make a surprise for Hinata but the owner would have none of it.

(Flashback)

"_Damnit brat for the last time I said no! Now give those back before they become contaminated and get the hell out my store! I'm trying to run a business here and I have customers to tend to."_

_Naruto just grit his teeth and glare at the man._

"_Look old man. I would love to leave this dump that you call a store, but I can't do that unless you want me to steal this stuff 'That thought is getting better and better by the second'. Also you say that you have customer to tend to, well that is what I am so tend to my needs."_

_The man was red in the face and shaking with rage. How dare this, this demon come into his store, charade as a customer, and demand this of him._

"_Why you disrespectful dirty demon, why I oughta- "_

"_What is the problem here?"_

_Both of them turned their head to see a woman._

"_Nothing is wrong madam. Just caught this little punk trying to sneak out of here without paying." The man apologized before glaring at the shocked faced Naruto._

'_What is it with people accusing me of stealing. This is like at that jewelry store,' he thought._

"_WHAT! You lying, old, bastard. I'm trying to pay like a good citizen but you keep on refusing me." 'Next time I will just take what I need and avoid this shit.'_

_The woman looked at the two for a second before lowering her self down to Naruto's level, "Now young man it is not polite to take thing that do not belong to you," she scolded gently._

"_What, but I didn't take anyth-" but she cut him off._

"_No buts stealing is wrong," she stood back up and bowed to the store owner, "My apologies mister, please let me pay for what you almost lost." She said as she shot a famous smirk at Naruto from her bowed head._

_Naruto saw the smirk and smiled, 'Yes, she is on my side'_

"_That will not be necessary ma'am. I'll just call the anbu so they can take this trouble maker to a place he deserves to go."_

"_No, no I insist."_

"_Lady I would not feel right if I let you pay for what this demon did."_

_The woman's head shot up as she glared at the man and no one but he could see her sharingon eyes spinning rapidly. _

"_I may be on leave, but I am still a shinobi of this village. And with the law in place it is within my right that I kill you here and now for what you called this boy. Now you will take what I give you and watch what you say." She whispered fiercely before pulling back with her normal eyes and smile._

_Both boys looked at her in shock. The man was scared because it was in her right to kill him, and Naruto was thanking Kuarma for his hearing increase and wonder if this law was the reason no one told him he had a demon in him except when they where in mobs._

_After the man got over the threat he settled a glare on the two in front of him. _

"_Fine just pay for the brat's stuff and leave."_

_The woman still had on her smile, "Gladly"_

_After the things were paid for the two walked together before Naruto spoke he heard the man mutter "traitorous demon loving Uchiha bitch."_

"_Think you for your help back their Uchiha-san." He said with a bow._

_The woman just smiled and waved it off, "No need for formalities dear. Just call me Mikoto and I was happy to help. That man shouldn't have been so rude any way."_

_Naruto smiled. This woman, Mikoto, was nice to and defended him, and for that he was grateful._

"_So Naruto (I believe your name is), why do you need those thing so bad that you would put up with people like that._

"_Well you see that is the fifth store I've tried and I was running out of time to make what I want."_

"_And what is that?"_

_Naruto debated on weather or not he should tell her. Even though he was grateful for the help she gave him, he had learned the hard way not to completely trust people to soon. But decided there was no harm in it._

"_My friend and I are going to start at the ninja academy and well… I wanted to make her something special." He said with a small blush._

'_Cute!' she thought with a smile._

"_Well I don't have any thing to do now and have been told that I was a wiz in the kitchen."_

_Naruto thought about it. He really didn't know how to cook, he just usually eat just add water food. And he didn't know how to make cinnamon buns either so he agreed to her help._

_There time together in the kitchen was a surprising joy to both of their day. _

_Naruto found out that she was the wife of the clan head of the Uchiha and the mother of two. (one happened to by the duck-butt-head boy from school)_

_While she learned that he was an energetic kid who's goal was to get strong to protect those that were important to him and to be the Hokage._

_They ended up making a dinner for two perfect for a pair of eight-year-olds with cinnamon rolls for dessert. _

_The good times ended though when her eldest son (Itachi) came to retrieve his mother. Smiling at her son Mikoto introduced the boys to each other._

_The boys just stared at each other. Naruto looked him in the eye and could not get a reading off of him until he really concentrated and what he saw shocked him._

_In the smallest part of his eyes he could see confusion, worry, and pain that seem to intensify when he looked at his mother. But it was gone when he saw that he was being studied by the blond._

'_Wow this guy hides his emotions like he didn't have any' he thought as he said his good byes to the two Uchiha and thanking Mikoto for her help._

(End Flashback)

That night was as perfect as a eight-year-old dinner for two could go. Though out the meal Naruto had told Hinata about Mikoto and the day they had together. Hinata was a little jealous that some woman was alone with Naruto for that amount of time and the fun that they had but put it aside because the only reason she was there was so she could have a 'date' with her best friend. They even made her favorite food, cinnamon buns.

The week that had followed the dinner Naruto had looked for Mikoto to let her have a taste of their work but that chance never came. Naruto had heard that the entire Uchiha clan was murdered saved for Mikoto's youngest by Itachi.

The news struck Naruto, he did not understand. Itachi the one that the villagers called monster, murdered traitor did not have the eyes of one. When he thought about him he could see the pain and confusion in his eyes that instanced when he looked at his mom. He knew what he was going to do and be in no way enjoyed it like the villagers said he did.

But still why? Why did he do it? This question bugged he every time he thought about the subject and he was determined to find an answer. He would not make a final decision until he did.

Naruto was standing over Mikoto's grave as he let his tears fall. He had come after all the people had left so no disrespectful word would be said. He had not even known her for a day and she was already one of his precious people. And he was not the instant trust type.

A part of him blamed himself for her death. That she had died because she was nice to him and was punished for it. But instead of feeling to depressed the thought strengthened his resolve to get stronger.

Saying a small prayer and thinking her for their brief friendship, Naruto dug a small hole by the tombstone and buried his last cinnamon bun there saying that she never got to have one and to enjoy it.

These are the events that had happened to the young duo that had strengthened their bond. These events also lead to the one that will happen in the near future that had the two very excited… the Academy Graduation.

* * *

(Two Days before Graduation Exam)

5…

"Now class, I'm sure I don't have to remind you but the exams are very important…"

4…

"_I hope that Naruto-kun passes. I wouldn't know what to do if he didn't. Why is he smiling?"_

3…

"_Sasuke-kun is so amazing. We will be the best couple ever. Hm? What's that baka smiling at?"_

2…

"_Ok, ok: Equipment, check. Escape plan, check. Back up escape plan, check. Evil smile, check."_

1…

"_Well the year's almost over. I'm gonna miss the brats. Oh no I know smile. This can't be good."_

0…

**RRRRIIINNNNNGGGG**

**BBBBOOOMMMM!**

'**Click'**

"**NARUTO!"**

"Got to go Iruka-sensei, bye." Naruto called as he dashed out of the classroom as Iruka gave chase some how both weaving through all the students that were in their path.

Iruka was so close, so close to not being the subject to his student's pranks. Just two more days, just two but no fate just had to crush that dream.

As soon as the bell had rung, Iruka opened his desk to put away papers and a rainbow paint bomb had exploded making him look like a rainbow throw up on him. To make to worst Naruto had taken a picture at right at that exact moment. So now he was trying to get the camera… and maybe string his neck. But as soon as he followed him out the school his just disappeared.

"Damnit were did that brat go." He asked as he looked around.

Sighing he went back inside to cleanup. He could probably find him but he had better things to do than chase after a student.

Walking passed him Hinata was giggling in her hand at the misfortune that fell upon her teacher and walked to get some food at the place were she knew where Naruto was.

* * *

As she inside the curtain of the Ichiraku stand, she saw her favorite blond sitting there eating a bowl of ramen with another empty three besides him.

"Hey Hinata-chan what can I get you to day," Ayame said as she carried four now empty bowls to be washed.

"N-nothing today A-ayame-san. I j-just came to speak with Nar-Naruto-kun,"

"Hey Hinata did you like my prank today?" he said finishing his last bowl.

"Y-yes I did, b-but don't you t-think that it was a little mean doing that to I-iruka-s-sensei?"

Naruto made a mock thinking pose before his just shrugged his shoulders.

"Nah, anyway did you see the look on his face?"

She shook her head no.

Grinning he pulled out a picture from his pocket and handed it to her.

As soon as she received it she started to giggle in her hand once more.

The picture was a perfect shot of the paint near Iruka's face as-well-as his look of surprise.

Handing back the picture she turned somewhat serious. "N-naruto-kun are you r-ready for the e-exam?"

He just smiled his happy-go-lucky smile, "You bet I'm ready. Watch I'm going to ace the exam, Believe It!"

Usually she would blush when he used his verbal-tic but when he was behind his mask she could not.

"N-naruto-kun p-please don't use your mask with me," she told him as his fake smile dropped.

"I-I just don't get it." He said after awhile with his hands in fist.

"I can do all of the jutsu that they teach us but not matter how hard I try, I can't get a single damn clone right."

Hinata just smiled as he talked.

"It is just impossible for me to do. I don't even see the use of clones any way it is not like they can do anything any way, but if I don't figure something out than I won't be able to pass and I need to pass if I want to be Hokage."

Hinata looked at his depressed mood and felt a little bad so she decided it was time to change the subject.

"N-naruto-kun how is y-your prank on the Ho-Hokage comeing."

That got the job done as now he was smiling his brilliant smile again.

"I haven't started it yet but it is going to be sweet. I am going to see if I can find anything that I can use tonight. It is going to be great. Thanks for the idea by the way." He said smiling at her causing her to blush with embarrassment and shame.

Yes, it was her idea that he prank the Third and she wasn't proud of it, but in it was ether that for have him some paint the Hokage Monument and increase his already large number of hater.

Since they were little she had noticed how most for the adults would glare that them and whisper incredibly rude thing they thought they could not hear. She was very confused and a little scared that at the same time. When she had asked Naruto about it he just told her not to worry about it.

Even though Naruto trusted her most in the village, he did not tell her a secret that he obviously wanted to but was to scare. So until he did she would wait patiently.

"So do you do you want to go to the park?" he asked breaking her out of her thoughts.

"_Is is h-he asking me out on a d-d-date? … No if he was there would be no doubt."_

"S-sorry N-naruto-kun tou-san want make sure I'm r-ready for the e-exam. Eep! I'm late, bye Naruto-kun," she called as she started run home.

Naruto followed her out the stand watching her retreating form.

"_Make sure she's ready by abusing the hell out of her, teme."_

"My, my Naruto-kun what would Hinata think if she know if you were stareing at her butt as she was running, hn," came a voice by his ear.

Jumping back in embarrassment and surprise, he turned around and was greated to the sight of his nee-san stern face.

"No no it is not like that nee-chan. You see I was thinking and I was looking in her direction and-"

"Oh I get it you were thinking about her as she was running away. How romantic."

"Yes, I m-mean no no, I mean I was thinking about her but not like that."

"So you don't like her?"

"Yes I do like her-"

"Ha, I knew it. Oh you ywo will look so cute together!"

"No nee-chan it not like that, well, it is just, uhmm,?"

He stopped trying when the saw Ayame cluching her side laughing.

"NEE-CHAN!"

"Sorry Naruto but it was just too easy i could not resist."

He walked away with a agitated look muttering something about troublesome nee-chans.

* * *

(Later That Night)

"Man jiji need to up the security in this place. That was way to easy," Naruto said as he appeared in the Hokage's office.

"Ok, Ok what to look for what to look for."

He carefully made his way around the office looking to anything that he could use to embarrass his grandfather figure.

A little disappointed that he could not find anything in any part of the room he went to the only place left.

The desk

Opening the drawer he found nothing that he hadn't expected:

Paperwork

Bill

Paperwork

Oooo hidden kunai

Paperwork

Oh no _"Jiji has one of those orange books too."_

Paperwork

Paperwork

Ooo what's this …paperwork

A journal

Paperwork

Bill

'_Wait a journal?'_

Naruto picked up the journal from where he threw it and sat at the desk to begin his research.

_Regrets_

"That's a weird name. Oh well let's see what we got in here."

He opened the journal. Something he probably shouldn't of done.

He quickly realized why the book was named as it was.

Each page in the journal was something that his jiji ordered that lead to some ninja's death,( much to Naruto's horror) or something he felt like he could had prevented.

Looking though he was shocked about how much the Hokage regretted in his life:

One of his students apparently turning in to a very, very bad criminal.

The suicide missions of people named Dan Kato and Nawaki Senju that he could not prevent.

He kept flipping though. One of the pages was named Uchiha Massacre, but only the title remained for the rest of the page was gone.

But the one that got his attention the most was the one titled, _Naruto_.

"_Why am I in jiji's regret book? There has been nothing but bad things in here, and he is not the one responsible for my life."_

Farther down the page were two letters with his name on them. One looked like it was written in a guy who was in a hurry the other was done in a feminine way.

Curious he grabbed the one with the man's handwriting before sitting down to read. All original reasons for being there out of his mind.

_Naruto,_

_I don't have much time as the Kyuubi is attacking and the village needs me. If you are reading this that means that you are a jounin, 18, or that Hiruzen thinks you are ready for the truth. My name is Minato Namikaze. I am the Fourth Hokage. And I am your father._

"_My… my… f-father is the F-fourth Hokage?" _he looked at the picture on the wall that held his father's face before continuing with his reading.

_I plan to seal the Kyuubi inside of you making you it's jinchuriki (you are not the demon just it's prison) in order to save the village. I'm sorry but it had to be you because I could not ask any of the other parent for something that I could not do myself. I hope that you are able to control it's power and that the village sees you as the hero that you are. If that is not the case than I am truly sorry for the pain that I've caused you it is not my intention. I've have a few fail safe in case that happens though: you know Jiraiya__, he is your godfather, and I've changed your appearance to look more like me so that it is no question who your father is. (to appear in your original form cross your figures and bring it to your forehead, then do l__ike you would to releasing a genjutsu) I am truly sorry for the pain I might have caused you and that I won't be there to see what a wonderful man you have become. _

_Just know that I will always love you and will always be proud of you._

_Love you always,_

_Dad _

To say that Naruto was mad would be like saying Konoha has ninja in it, he was livid.

His _father_ is the one that did this to him. His _father_ is the one who is the cause of all his pain. His _father _is the one who assigned him a godfather that has never shown himself. His _father_ is the one who put a fucking demon (although she has been neutral so far) inside of him, what kind of a father does that. His _father_ who had changed his appearance to look more like himself, who does that. Love your child for what they are. His _father _gave him a life where he knew that there was a chance that he would live hell on Earth and yet he did it anyway. He even wrote and apology, what kind of a father fucking does that.

He was about to let out a scream of rage when he remembered where he was and that he had another letter to read.

After taking many, many calming breaths he took the last letter and began to read.

_Naruto-kun,_

The name was a little blurry and that part of the paper was wrinkled. Most likely from a water source, he guessed tears and instantly his anger was gone.

_I am so sorry. The Kyuubi is attacking the village and your father is off fighting it,but I fear that it won't be enough and he will seal it in you. Before I go any farther my name is Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze, Head of the Uzumaki Clan, Second Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, and your mother_.

"_My… My mother was Kurama's other jinchuriki? No way."_

_I believe that_ _Minato will make you a jinchuriki in hope that the village will see you as the hero that you are, but the death and destruction rate is so high already I do not believe they will honor this wish. I will try to have Minato change his mind, but this is one disagreement that I don't think I can win. For that I am truly sorry for the pain you had to go through._

_I do not think I will survive the night so I will tell you this now in the Uzumaki compound you will find letter I wrote to you while I was pregnant with you if you haven't already. I hid them in different rooms to make a game out of it when you were older, they will tell you all you need to know about being the heir/head of a clan as well as some other things. I wish I could see the handsome young man you will grow up to be and meet the wonderful girl you are destined to be with. _(images of a white eyed friend flash though his mind)

_There is so much more I wish to tell you by if I don't stop now than I wont be able to bear it._

_Love you more than you could ever know,_

_Mom_

…

…

…

Naruto stayed silent for a long time.

His mother never wanted him to be like he was. It was against her wish but his _father_ did it any way. The anger towards his _father _was completely negated by what he felt from reading his mother's letter, and the shock of the information was enough to make his body shut down and reboot to autopilot.

Almost robot like he put the room exactly like he found it (save the two letter's) and exited the building. He did not know where he was going. He did not even completely register that he was out side, only that the temperature was nice.

He was knocked out of his state when his head hit a metal surface landing him on his butt.

Rubbing his head and silently cursing to himself, he looked up and saw a gate with a swirl. His heart started to speed up when he saw a circle with a swirl on it like his necklace. Bitting his thumb enough to draw blood, he applied it to the swirl like he vaguely remember from class about entering compounds.

The seal seemed to glow a bit and a click was heard. Slowly pushing open the gate and went inside the dark compound he did not go into any of the rooms except for one. As he opened the door he sew a room with a queen size bed in a somewhat plain room. That was as much as he saw because he fell on the bed with a tired sigh after what had been a emotionally exhausting day.

He fell asleep with a smile on his face and one thought in his mind…

"_I'm home."_

* * *

Hinata was waiting patently at Naruto's door wondering what was taking him so long. She had arrived about twenty minuets ago and was knocking every five minutes.

"_I wonder what is taking Naruto-kun so long… maybe I could use the Byakugan to see if his is okay. No no bad Hinata bad," _she thought as a blush started to rise on his face.

The last time Naruto was late was because he had overslept and was taking a shower. Hinata, worred about her friend's tardiness, used her Byakugan to see what was going on, she saw something that she had not wanted to see until she was older. after that she was not able to look at him with a normal face for about tree weeks after that.

"_Still… m-maybe one little p-peep just to see if he's ok wouldn't hurt, "_ she thought as she started to channel chakra to her eyes.

"HEY HINATA!"

"EEEEEEPPPP!"

**BONK**

Hinata turned to see her favorite blond grinning at her trying not to laugh, but not before she hit the ceiling from fright.

"N-n-naruto-kun don't f-frighten me l-like that," she said as she was rubbing the small bump that had grown on her head.

"Gomenasai Hinata, but you looked like you were lost in thought and that was the best (and funniest) way for me to snap you out of it. Anyway let's get going we will be late for the academy if we don't," he said as he sarted to walk away.

Hinata just stared at his retreating form.

Since when did Naruto care about going to the academy? Usually she had to make him go. She would have thought of it more about it but she saw that he was no longer there.

"N-naruto-kun w-wait for me," and ran to caught up with him.

* * *

As they were walking to the academy, they were subjected to the glares and harsh whispers of the villagers they passed. Well he was, she wasn't. This is was not unusual as they've been doing this for years now, but now Naruto was glaring back.

This was new because before all he did was have his happy-go-lucky mask on and ignore them, and Hinata hated that mask. She guessed that he was tired of looking down upon and was now retaliating. It made part of her happy, but she was curious about why he did it today.

She was not the only one surprised and he villagers that saw his glare quickly went back to want they were doing.

"N-naruto-kun how was y-your prank on L-lord Hokage?"

"What… oh yeah. I don't think I'm going to go through with it." He said as the building came into view.

That shooked Hinata so must that she stopped, cleaned her ears, and reviewed her memories.

"W-w-what your not your not going to do your prank? Why? "

Never, never ever had any of Naruto's targets been spared from his pranking wrath, not even the Hokage. So why now? She did not get it.

Naruto stopped as he was about to enter the academy building and turned around.

"I think my kaa-san would want me to pass the test instead of doing a prank on the Third," and walked in.

Once again she was shocked. She knew that one of Naruto's dreams was to find out who his parents were and based on what he just said he'd found his mom. She smiled as she could only imagine the happiness he must of felt. **(2)**

"_1__st__ Naruto-kun stood up the villagers, 2__nd__ Naruto-kun is serious about the academy, 3__rd__ Naruto-kun found his kaa-san. Best day ever!"_

"Hey Hinata you coming?" Naruto's voice echoed from the school.

"Hai" and she went inside.

* * *

Today was a very good day for one Iruka Umino, yes sir, a very good day.

First, it was the last day before the graduation. So that means in less than seventy-four hour the brats will be out of his hair.

Second, was that every one of the seats was filled so he did not have to waste time going through the attendance list to see who wasn't there.

Third, he went through his entre lecturer/review without any interruptions, not even a wise-crack.

Fourth, was that it appeared that Naruto was really paying attention and seem to understand most of what he was talking about. The look in his eyes told him that his was listening to every word that cames from his mouth and it made him feel that special feeling he got when he taught. He even listened when the other asked questions, sometimes even looking relived when a student asked a question about a difficult subject.

Fifth, class was now over and there was no paint bomb in sight. Just one more day.

Based off of today he started to believe that Naruto was actually going to pass the exam.

He knew Hinata would be a good influence eventually.

* * *

"_1__st__ Naruto-kun stood up the villagers, 2__nd__ Naruto-kun is serious about the academy, 3__rd__ Naruto-kun found his kaa-san, 4__th__ Naruto-kun did not get in trouble in class today. Best day ever!" _were the thought of Hinata as she exited the academy.

Once outside she Naruto who appeared to have a thoughtful look on his face. When she got closer he came out of it and smiled.

"Hey Hinata did you notice? Iruka-sensei did not fuse at me today." The way he said it like it was some big accomplishment (which for him it was) brought a smile on her face.

"Umm… N-naruto-k-kun this morning you s-said you found your k-kaa-san, do y-you think I could m-meet her," she really wanted to meet the mother of her hero/savoir/crush and give her a piece of her mind for leaving Naruto. Whether or not she would actually say anything was unknown (probably not), but she still wanted to see who she was.

Naruto adopted his signature fox grin and said, "Well I was just on my way over there I guess I could bring you with me."

Hinata smiled.

"But I will have to blindfold you first… and no Byakugan."

Smile fades. Since the failed kidnapping she never liked to be blind.

"W-why?"

"Pleeeeeease I want it to be a surprise. Plus the look on your face would be amazing"

"_N-naruto-kun t-thinks my face is a-amazing?" _she thought as she nods yes.

Naruto smiled as he produced a cloth and wrapped it around her head, "Alright, remember no peeping."

"H-hai."

He gave a nod to himself as he took his friend's hand (which caused her to blush) and began to lead her forwards.

Hinata did not have a clue were she was after the fourth turn. When they had begun their journey to Naruto's mom's house, she had tried to use her mental map of Konoha to try and find the location. All she knows now is that they took at left at an open street near the academy then took a left in an ally of some sort then she got lost. So now all she could do was trust her guild.

* * *

After what to her seemed like an hour they finally stopped.

"Are we there yet N-naruto-kun?"

"Almost just a little longer."

She then heard a screeching noise. And a slight tug of her hand told her to go forwards.

"_Was that a gate? Where are we?" _she thought as she heard what sounded like a gate closing.

"Okay. You can take off the rag now." Hinata could easy hear the excitement in his voice.

Slowly she removed the cloth and blinked her eyes to adjust to the light and what she saw amazed her.

What was in front of her what was unmistakably a clan compound, though by far the smallest she had seen. The main house looked to be about two stories high with two smaller ones on it's sides, giving it a "U" shape from the air.

"N-naruto-k-kun this is compound."

"Yep," he said with an excited smile.

"Than t-that means…" she started trying to connect the dots.

"That I am the heir of the great Uzumaki Clan, yep."

She was speech less. She guessed that he came from a clan not that he was a heir of a one. She bet that the elders wouldn't disapprove of her crush on Naruto if they knew. She also thought it strange how if he was a clan heir, she had not heard of an Uzumaki beside Naruto so that meant he was possible the last one.

"Anyway come on. I did not really get a chance to explore the house that much and my mother said she hid letters all around. What to help me look?"

She nodded as they entered to compound. When she entered she was greeted with comforting feeling as soon as she entered the door. It was nice change from the cold, depressing atmosphere of the Hyuuga household. It also reminded her of how she felt with Naruto which make her smile.

"_1__st__ Naruto-kun stood up the villagers, 2__nd__ Naruto-kun is serious about the academy, 3__rd__ Naruto-kun found his kaa-san, 4__th__ Naruto-kun did not get in trouble in class today. 5__th__ Naruto-kun is a clan heir. Best day ever!" _she thought which made her smile even more.

* * *

They had sent the next four hours was spent either exploring the house (which they found: four bedrooms excluding the master that Naruto had slept in the night before, an impressive library that had a several books with colorful spine, a kitchen that had a comfy living room attached, a spare bedroom, a study and a few other) playing/exploring in the backyard/training ground, and looking for the letters that were hidden all over the main house, all over. They even found one under a toilet in one of the bathrooms.

"Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah?" he ask looking up at her.

They were in the living room with her one the couch and him lying on the floor under her.

"This place is amazing."

"Yeah it is." _"And it is all mine." _He thought with a smile.

"N-naruto-kun?"

"Yyeah?" she sounded a little nervous this time.

"W-why?"

He fully turned to this time, "Why what?"

"Why have you not known of this place if you are a clan heir. Why do the villagers treat you like they do and until now you've done nothing about it. Why did we meet like we did." Even though her voice stayed the same, he could see her eyes begin to water as she turned towards him. "Naruto-kun do you not trust me?" she asked not realizing that this was the most she had spoken without stuttering in years.

As Naruto looked at her distressed face he felt a pain in in chest. He did trust her. He trusts her more than anyone in the village, but he was scared of her reaction from the truth. That is why he withheld from telling her and have it his way he would wait even longer, but this time it was not his way.

He sighed and took a calming breath, "Hinata… what do you know about Kura-The Kyuubi?"

Hinata looked at him in confusion. How was the Kyuubi related to her questions? Still confused by the question, she wiped her eyes and tried to remember what was taught at the academy.

"N-not much N-naruto-kun, just that it a-atacked the vil-village and was killed by the F-fourth Hokage. Why?"

"_It's now or never I guess," _"Because… that is a lie."

"W-what? But but that is what t-they t-taught in the academy. How c-could they l-lie?"

"What the academy taught was just a cover story." He took a deep breath "You can never permanently kill a biju but they can be sealed away in people," he said not looking her in the eye.

"B-but what does that…" she stopped.

His birthday being the day of the attack, the villagers never liking him, and all the demon comments. She gasped, "The F-fourth h-he, he, s-sealed it inside of y-you, didn't he."

"Yeah _he_ did." He spat though he was happy that she said the Kurama seal inside of him and not that he was her reincarnation.

"But w-why? Why you?" she was trying to figure it out but she couldn't. If it had to be a new born would it had not been safer to was one maybe a few weeks old, not someone born that day.

She looked at Naruto and saw he had a scowl on his face and his body was shaking from rage.

"N-naruto-kun?"

"Because… he said that 'he could not ask any other parent for something he couldn't do himself." He started to shake as memory after memory of his abuse from the villagers flashed though his mind.

Hinata was speechless from what he said and how she had always heard how noble the Fourth was it was easy for her to connect the dots. Her respect for the late Hokage had severely dropped.

"He, he's your father."

"HE'S NOT MY FATHER!" he shouted at her, all his pent up anger finally making an appearance.

"A father is supposed to protect you. A father is to help you. A father is supposed to teach you, not put a FUCKING DEMON IN YOU. SO HE IS NOT MY _FATHER!_"

Hinata was shocked(again). Naruto had never yelled at her before, and the look on his face and the rage in his voice was more than enough to frighten her.

When Naruto's anger finally faded he saw the scaryed look on his best friend's face and quickly hid his, ashamed by he actions and sending mental curses to the Fouth and the bad villagers him for making him snap like that. But he did feel a lot better now that some of his emotions were let out.

After Naruto had calmed down and turned away, Hinata's face turned from a look of fright to a look of understanding.

Her friend was angry about many things but never before had he showed it. What had just happened was not him being angry at her but the ones who had wronged him.

She then tried to think of something to lighten the atmosphere when she saw what resembled an envelope in the library.

You see when Naruto had snapped at her she had activated her **Byakugan** on instant and had forgot to deactivate it.

"N-n-naruto-kun I t-think there is an other l-letter in the other ro-room."

He looked at her, a bit of shame still in his eye, "Really?"

She nodded, "Do y-you want to read it n-now?"

He stood up with a small smile and held out his hand to her, which she took with a blush. He was happy to have something to thing about to get his mind off the conversation they just had.

"N-naruto-kun have, have you m-meet the K-k-kyuub-bi?"

he noded as they got to the close library door. "Yeah I Kurama. I meet her on the night that we meet," he said before he opened the door and walked in.

Hinata froze for a second, _"Naruto-kun m-meet t-the k-kybuui. Wait he said that the Kyuubi was a girl._

"N-naruto-kuun d-did you say the K-kyuubi was a g-girl?" she called from her spot.

"Hu, oh yaeh she is," She heard the sound of paper ripping, "She isn't as mean and bloodthirsty as the academy says she is, scary as hell though."

Blinking a few times, she processed what she had just heard and gave a mental squeal as she continued her list.

"_1__st__ Naruto-kun stood up the villagers, 2__nd__ Naruto-kun is serious about the academy, 3__rd__ Naruto-kun found his kaa-san, 4__th__ Naruto-kun did not get in trouble in class today. 5__th__ Naruto-kun is a clan heir. 6__th__ Naruto-kun is the son of a Kage. 7__th__ Naruto-kun finally trust me with his secret. 8__th__ The Kyuubi is a girl. Best day ever!" _she thought as she went into the room.

She saw her friend in front of a pile of that contained: a pair of white figureless gloves, two headbands that had what she assumed was the Uzumaki crest, and a bunch of smaller letters. She also found the once hidden letter and a note next to it.

Moveing to his front to get a better view she gasped at what he was holding.

In his hands was a beautiful midnight black Katana with a blood red streak down it's back. The three foot long blade ended at an Uzumaki crest guard and handle that was fitted with a black fabric.

Taking her eyes away from the sword, she picked up the letters and began to read.

_Sochi-kun_

_This is another letter of the scavenger hunt game. In side are some of the things that I want you to have and attached to them is a note that tells you what they are. I hope you enjoy them and put them to good use._

_Kaa-san_

She took the ones that said 'sword, gloves, hitai-ate, and books' and began to read.

_Sochi-kun_

_This sword was given to me by your grandfather before I left Uzukagure. It does not have a name but it has been handed down our family since before the time of the Sage of the Six Paths so in time it will be yours. I have not used this blade myself because I still have not gotten over my home's genocide and using anything from there brings me emotional pain. I do hope that if you decide to use it you will do so with the skill and honor of the Uzumaki._

_Love_

_Kaa-san_

…

….

…

_Sochi-kun _

_These gloves once belonged to my best friend/guardian Mizu Uzumaki. The gloves have special seals on them that allows them to be used as a weapon. To activate them just channel chakra into them. (but BE CAREFUL) Mizu had given them to me as a way to remember her, I still miss her. Since these gloves where personally made by her there is no official style so they are not in the kenjutsu books and you will have to make your own. _

_Good luck_

_Kaa-san_

Hinata was a little curious about the gloves, they did not look dangerous. Looking back at Naruto and seeing him busy reading though one of the blue-spine books, she carefully put the gloves on and channeled chakra throw them. She was shocked when from in between her knuckles three eleven inch blades that were as white as snow extended faster the she could see. After the shock wore off she began to carefully examine the blades and do small test with them, like putting different amounts of chakra into them which caused them to retract and extend to different lengths. All the while thinking about how they would go perfectly with the Gentle Fist.

"_Maybe I could ask Naruto-kun if I could have them… no… I couldn't do that." _She thought as she retracted the claws and picked up an other letter to read. Not knowing that her friend had other thoughts.

_Sochi-kun_

_Theses headbands are the official hitai-ates of Uzukagure. One of them I took was I when I was young to make playing ninja feel more real and the other was given to me by my father (the Uzukage) as a good bye gift saying that I would always be a shinobi of Uzukagure. I hope that if you deside to wear them you do so with pride._

_Love _

_Kaa-san_

…

…

…

_Sochi-kun _

_Most of the books in the library are arranged by the color of their spine. Each different color spine represents a different category the book covers and the larger the book the more difficult the content is. Green is Health and Nutrition/Training Regiment. Blue is Ninjutsu. Red is Kenjustsu. And yellow is Fuijutsu. My academy teacher and the Uzugakure librarian gave them to me as a going away gift saying that I needed to learn to use fuinjutsu and other things if I wanted to be a true Uzumaki. I even included a few notes that could help you in them. Read them and become strong._

_Love _

_Kaa-san_

Putting down the last letter, Hinata felt a little sad for her friend. From all the letters they had found, she came to a conclusion, Kushina Uzumaki was a wonderfully kind woman who loved Naruto with all her heart. It was sad the they would never meet, the motherly love feeling she got from the letters reminded her of her own mother. It brought a tear to her eyes.

"Hinata are you alright?" Naruto asked when he saw the tears.

"Yes, I'm fine N-naruto-k-kun," she said drying her eyes, "I was j-just wishing that I could have met your m-mother." Naruto gave a small smile understanding the feeling. Then he noticed the gloves still on her hands and smirked.

"So Hinata, I take it you like the gloves?"

Hinata started to feel her face heat up and hurried to take off the gloves.

"I'm s-s-sorry N-naruto-k-kun," she said but he just waved it off her concern.

"Na, it's alright. I was going to give them to you anyway."

Hinata stopped struggling with the gloves and gaspted at her friend.

"N-naruto-k-kun I, I ,I can't do that. These b-belonged to your m-mother. I can't p-possible have them." Even though she DID want them, she could not take something from her friend's mother whom he just found. But Naruto just shook his head.

"Technically they belonged to Mizu-san before my mom, who left them to me, and I am giving them to you," he said with a smile.

"B-but, but-" but Naruto cut her off.

"Think of it this way. I will be using the sword (eventually) and won't have time to learn a whole new style that is required to use them. They would be put to much better use with you anyway. Plus the sword was mom's and the gloves were Mizu-san, her best friend. Now the sword is mine and the gloves are your, and since you're my best friend I'm just continuing the tradition."

Hinata could not find a hole in his logic but she was still a bit hesitant, something that Naruto picked up on it.

"Pleassssseeeee Hinata. For me?" he said in his best puppy dog (fox kit) face.

Hinata was able to last a total of ten seconds before her resolve fell and brought her gloved hands to her chest giving a nod.

Naruto smiled and did a small victory dance that included jumping in the air at different time. It cause Hinata to laugh siliently.

"Oh yeah, I forgot something here from last night. I'll be right back." He said as he took a headband and left.

Hinata smiled as she went over her mental list again,_ "1__st__ Naruto-kun stood up the villagers, 2__nd__ Naruto-kun is serious about the academy, 3__rd__ Naruto-kun found his kaa-san, 4__th__ Naruto-kun did not get in trouble in class today. 5__th__ Naruto-kun is a clan heir. 6__th__ Naruto-kun is the son of a Kage. 7__th__ Naruto-kun finally trusts me with his secret. 8__th__ The Kyuubi is a girl. 9__th__ Naruto-kun gave me the gloves as a gift. Best day ever!"_ she thought and went back to examining her clawed hands.

"Hey Hinata, what do you think?" came Naruto's voice from behind her.

Turning around her cheeks want red as she took in the new site of her friend.

Standing in front of her was Naruto sporting a grin with the Uzugakure headband around his forehead, but what had her blushing was the rest of his appearance. Instead of that horrible 'Kill Me!' orange jumpsuit, he wore a black shirt that had a dark red stripe on his sleeves and down his side and a pair of black anbu pants. But what surprised her the most was that he had red hair like she'd seen in the pictures of his mother and fell to his forehead. His whisker marks were gone as well. To top it off his mother's sword was strapped to his back. The more she looked at him and took in his appearance the redder her face got, needless to say she did not disapprove of his new appearance.

"N-n-naruto-kun where… where did you g-get those c-clothes?"

He looked down at himself and gestured to his clothes, "What these?" she nodded.

"Well I've had these for a while or at least something like them for a while. I just never wore them.

"W-why not?" she asked wanting to know why he always wore that terrible outfit and not this.

"Well… usually I only ware this when I do a prank around a important ninja building or if there is a really good security system involved, gave me less of a chance of getting caught. Plus even if I did get caught I always ware the jumpsuit so people would be less likely to suspect me."

Hinata was impress at level of think that want into his pranks and clothing choice. She know Naruto was much smarter then he let on, and hearing this made her wonder how much he was holding himself back.

"Don't get me wrong I like the jumpsuit it is comfortable, loose, and cheap but the orange was to much. It did get people to notice me though." He said sadly before he shook his head and want back to the Ninjustu book.

She watched him for a moment, "S-so you won't be wearing the jumpsuit a-anymore?" she asked with a bit of hope in her voice.

"No, I think I will start wearing this from now on." He said not looking up from the book missing Hinata's silent happy dance.

"_1__st__ Naruto-kun stood up the villagers, 2__nd__ Naruto-kun is serious about the academy, 3__rd__ Naruto-kun found his kaa-san, 4__th__ Naruto-kun did not get in trouble in class today. 5__th__ Naruto-kun is a clan heir. 6__th__ Naruto-kun is the son of a Kage. 7__th__ Naruto-kun finally trusts me with his secret. 8__th__ The Kyuubi is a girl. 9__th__ Naruto-kun gave me the gloves as a gift. 10__th__ Naruto-kun stopped wearing that 'Kill Me!' orange jumpsuit. Best day ever!" _she thought happily until she looked at Naruto again and frowned.

"N-naruto-kun? Why is your hair r-red and what happened to your w-whisker m-marks?"

Naruto turned in his seat and had a frown on his face.

"Hinata this is how I really look. My _fath_\- the Yondaime use an advance henge on me to changed my appearance to look more like him so that people would recognize me as _his_ son. Some failure that plan was." He said burying his nose back into the book.

Hinata was a tiny bit sad that his whisker maker weren't real they made him look cute, but his new clothes and hair made him look cuter, maybe even hotter.

She gave a silent squeal into her hands as her face went red at the tought of using the 'H' word with Naruto.

"_1__st__ Naruto-kun stood up the villagers, 2__nd__ Naruto-kun is serious about the academy, 3__rd__ Naruto-kun found his kaa-san, 4__th__ Naruto-kun did not get in trouble in class today. 5__th__ Naruto-kun is a clan heir. 6__th__ Naruto-kun is the son of a Kage. 7__th__ Naruto-kun finally trusts me with his secret. 8__th__ The Kyuubi is a girl. 9__th__ Naruto-kun gave me the gloves as a gift. 10__th__ Naruto-kun stopped wearing that 'Kill Me!' orange jumpsuit. 11__th__ Naruto-kun looks h-h-hot. Best day ever!"_

* * *

They stayed in the room for another half hour before Hinata remembered that she had stayed far longer than she had planned.

They had left the house (making sure no one saw them) and were currently walking though different alleys to get to the Hyuuga compound using the light from the moon to see.

They were walking in silence until Hinata broke it.

"N-naruto-kun?"

"Yeah?" he asked looking back at her.

"Are you going tell the villagers?"

"Tell them what?"

"That you are the son of the Fourth and a clan heir?"

He stopped and was silent. Hinata moved in front of him to look at his face and saw different emotion go across it. Joy, anger, relief, fear, hope, and then disappointment before his finally shook his head no.

"W-why n-not," she thought his would scream it from the rooftops that he found his parents and who they were, or at least tell people.

"Because if the villagers found out about all this one if not two things would happen. 1. They would all apologize some meaningless apology, suck up to me, spoil me rotted and not recognize me for me, just the son of the _Fourth_. Or they would deny it altogether and take everything I have. Even if they did acknowledge me for who I am they would probably take everything just in site of me," He said bitterly.

"W-what about the blood seal on the c-compound, only someone r-related to the on who set it could g-get in," Hinata countered hoping that Naruto hadn't given up on villagers though she to had lost a lot of faith in them.

"They would say something like 'The demon has chanced his blood to the Yondaime's as an insult' or something stupid like that. No it would be best if they don't know anything." He said as he form a hand seal and his appearance returned to blond hair and whiskers.

Hinata opened her mouth to argue but could not form one and closed it as they started walking again. Everything he had said would most likely happen if his parentage was reviled and she would not have his happiness taken away from him, so she would stay silent.

They continued walking before they exited the alley and Hinata saw her clan's compound up the street.

"T-thank you, for walking m-me home N-naruto-kun," she said as a blush stated to form since walking the female home was what happened in couples.

"Your welcome, I enjoyed the company. Anyway, see you at the academy tomorrow."

Hinata's blush started to get darker but faded when she remembered what was tomorrow.

"N-naruto-kun t-the exam is t-tomorrow. W-we need to work on y-your clone so that you can pa-pass."

She was confused when instead of being concerned he just gave a confident smile.

"Don't worry about that that. I have that problem solved, I will pass for sure."

She tried to find any deception on him but she couldn't find any and he face showed pure confidence. It caused her to smile as her concerns were eased way.

The duo fell into a comfortable silence.

"W-well good Narut-" she was cut off when the blond suddenly throw his arms around her, and pulled her into a hug.

"N-naru… N-naruto-k-kun?" Hinata stuttered out _"N-naruto-kun is, is hugging me. My heart. It is pounding in my chest with him being so close. If feel lke it is going to explode." _

"_1__st__ Naruto-kun stood up the villagers, 2__nd__ Naruto-kun is serious about the academy, 3__rd__ Naruto-kun found his kaa-san, 4__th__ Naruto-kun did not get in trouble in class today. 5__th__ Naruto-kun is a clan heir. 6__th__ Naruto-kun is the son of a Kage. 7__th__ Naruto-kun finally trusts me with his secret. 8__th__ The Kyuubi is a girl. 9__th__ Naruto-kun gave me the gloves as a gift. 10__th__ Naruto-kun stopped wearing that 'Kill Me!' orange jumpsuit. 11__th__ Naruto-kun looks h-hot. 12__th__ Naruto-kun hugged me. Best day ever!" _She thought as she subconsciously snuggled deeper into his arm.

"Thank you for being my best friend Hinata-chan," he said into her ear before he let the hug go, much to Hinata's disappointment.

She looked at him with a happy smile as he gave a mock bow, "I bid thy good night Hyuuga-hime," and disappeared into the darkness of the alley.

It was at this time that Hinata's mind caught up to her, _"H-he, he called m-me Hinata-chan… he finally called me Hinata-chan." _She thought with a squeal.

* * *

After Naruto left his friend, he made his way back to his compound. He thought about the day he's had and his last conversation. He did not know why did hugged her, all he knew was that he wanted was to let her know how much she meant to him and words did not seem like they would cut it at the time.

"_She had such a nice sent." _ He shook his head clearing his head of that thought since it would lead his teenage mind to go places his did not want to go.

When he got to his compound he went straight to the library, got the Ninjutsu book, and opened to the page he was last on.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**, only people for people with large chakra reserves." Naruto read aloud, "Better get to work." And started to practice his ace for the exam.

* * *

After Hinata's little fan girl moment she walked home with a happy-go-lucky smile on her face. The day had been better (and far more emotional) then she ever thought possible.

She want straight to bed so that nobody would ruin her good mood with a question asult of where she had been and why she was late.

As she lied down, she went through her mental list for the last time that night.

"_1__st__ Naruto-kun stood up the villagers, 2__nd__ Naruto-kun is serious about the academy, 3__rd__ Naruto-kun found his kaa-san, 4__th__ Naruto-kun did not get in trouble in class today. 5__th__ Naruto-kun is a clan heir. 6__th__ Naruto-kun is the son of a Kage. 7__th__ Naruto-kun finally trusts me with his secret. 8__th__ The Kyuubi is a girl. 9__th__ Naruto-kun gave me the gloves as a gift. 10__th__ Naruto-kun stopped wearing that 'Kill Me!' orange jumpsuit. 11__th__ Naruto-kun looks hot. 12__th__ Naruto-kun hugged me. 13__th__ Naruto-kun finally called me Hinata-chan. Best… day… ever!" _she thought with a smile as she went to sleep. Waiting to see what tomorrow brought her.

* * *

**A/N: Hello people of the FanFiction world. Thank you for reading this story out of the thousands that are on this site. This is my first story and I would like to know how I am doing. So please review. Leave comment, tell me what you like about it, what you don't like, what i could improve on, ...etc, but please don't be haters. So I hope to hear from you. **

**Until next time!**


	4. Tests and Bets

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Naruto

"Talking"

"_Thinking, Flashback"_

"**Demon Talking"**

"_**Demon Thinking"**_

* * *

(Previously)

As she lied down, she went through her mental list for the last time that night.

"_1__st__ Naruto-kun stood up the villagers, 2__nd__ Naruto-kun is serious about the academy, 3__rd__ Naruto-kun found his kaa-san, 4__th__ Naruto-kun did not get in trouble in class today. 5__th__ Naruto-kun is a clan heir. 6__th__ Naruto-kun is the son of a Kage. 7__th__ Naruto-kun finally trusts me with his secret. 8__th__ The Kyuubi is a girl. 9__th__ Naruto-kun gave me the glove as a gift. 10__th__ Naruto-kun stopped wearing that 'Kill Me!' orange jumpsuit. 11__th__ Naruto-kun looks h-hot. 12__th__ Naruto-kun hugged me. 13__th__ Naruto-kun finally called me Hinata-chan. Best… day… ever!" _she thought with a smile as she went to sleep. Waiting to see what tomorrow brought her.

* * *

Hinata woke up from one of the best dreams she had ever had. In the dream Naruto was a clan heir and had a beautiful home. She got out of her bed and stretched her muscles that where stiff from sleep. To make the dream even better, Naruto had giving her a pair of gl… she stopped that line of thought as she looked at her hand and saw the gloves of her dream.

Nervously sending a stream of chakra to them to test if they were real or just an illusion, she was pleasantly surprised when the three white claws appeared and started to shine in the morning light.

"_I-it, it wasn't a d-dream… it was r-real."_ She thought as she admired the bladed.

She started to slowly go through the motions of the **Gentle Fist **staring at the claws the whole time. The way they moved with her and the potential she saw in them, it made her wonder if the gloves where meant for her.

She frowned when she got to the more uncomfortable parts of the form, at those parts of the form her body just did not move from one step to another and made the claws all the more difficult to use. Oh well she just have to work at it and improve.

"Hinata-sama," came a voice from the other side of the door.

Caught off guard by the sudden noise, she fell on the floor in a somewhat dramatic fashion. Hoping that no one had their eyes activated she gave a shaky response, "Y-yes?"

"Hinata-sama Hiashi-sama wanted me to inform you that the academy would be starting soon." The voice said and went away.

"Eep," Hinata forgot all about the exam she had to take, being completely caught up in her daydream.

Now rushing to get ready she had a quick breakfast and hurried along to the academy. Wondering what the new day was going to bring her.

* * *

Naruto was sitting in his seat in the corner in the class reading a book he had found in his library the night before.

Many of the students were already there, but they had not noticed him. They just did their own thing, some even openly wonder if he would even show up.

Naruto had been the first to arrive to the class. He could not believe that by just reading a book and wearing a new change of cloths could turn him invisible the a class room full of genin hopefuls. So far the ones to have noticed him were Shikamaru and Shino. The former felt that it would be to troublesome to make an announcement of the blonde's change, while the latter could not find a logical reason to care about some one else's business.

Naruto was reading a beginners book on fuinjutsu. He had figured that if the Uzumaki were masters in the art then he would give it a shot even though it was said to be one for the hardest things to learn. He did not know why though, so far everything he has read had made since.

He was so absorbed in his book that he hardly notices the presence of Hinata sitting by his side until she said her greeting.

"Huh, did you say something Hinata-chan?

* * *

(Elsewhere in Konoha)

Achoo!

"_Hmm someone just stole my line. I hope it is a pretty girl. Now were was I_," thought a masked man as he found his place in his book.

"_Oh Azumi-chan… you naughty girl."_

* * *

Hinata blushed as memories of when Naruto had hugged her while calling her that last night replayed in her mind.

"G-Good morning Naruto-k-kun," she said, as she looked him over.

He was wearing the same cloths he wore the other night but added a jacket that matched his outfit that he left unzipped. He had a regular looking sword strapped around his back that could never be compared to his mother's. She guessed he wasn't going to show it in public like he said he wouldn't. Also his hair was his spiky blond and not the red she saw last night, much to her disappointment. She would have never thought that she would prefer a color over the blond but the red looked soooo much better on him.

Shaking her head to rid her self of the blush that appeared on her face, she looked back at the object of her affection to see his nose in a book.

"Naruto-k-kun, What are you reading?"

It must have taken a while for the sentence to reach him because it took him a moment to acknowledge to question and respond.

"Hm? Oh yeah, this is a book I found on fuinjutsu. And well I thought since I am… who I am, I figured I give it a shoot. It is really easy to. I don't see how it is one of the hardest things for a shinobi to learn. I find it quite simple so far," he said showing the book to Hinata.

Hinata looked at the book and was utterly confused at first glance. It was full of weird shapes and symbols that made no since to her. Having to learn symbols that did one thing, doing the same one only a tad different causing something like death or injury was not something that Hinata felt like doing. So she just shook her head and handed the book back.

When Naruto had given the book to Hinata she looked completely lost, which confused him. The book seemed easy enough to read and understand, but if Hinata's reaction was anything to go by then he guessed not.

'_Oh well, must be an Uzumaki thing'_, he thought with a shrug as he got his book back.

"N-Naruto-kun?"

"Yes Hinata-chan?" he said as he turned the page in his book.

"Did you manage to m-make a clone?"

"Don't worry Hinata-chan", he said giving her a confident smile, "I will pass for sure."

She adverted her eyes with a small blush on her face at be called –chan again. She still was not used to hearing her name with the suffix but she loved it all the same.

She looked at his face and felt warmth spread throughout her body. Naruto's confidence and smile were having a positive affect on her. She knew that because her stuttering was going down. Just his smile alone was enough to make her want to believe in him, so like all the other time before she would. She let the conversation drop as she started to focus on her techniques to pass the exam. Noting that he had not answered her question.

The two fell into a comfortable silence as they concentrated on their respective task, oblivious to the world around them. It was nice until…

"Ha! I won Ino-pig. You will never beat me when it comes to gaining Sasuke-kun's love."

"Yeah right Forehead. You only won because that giant billboard of yours blocked my path."

Naruto gave a sigh as he heard Sasuke's biggest fangirls argue. I mean come on, it was like this every morning and it was not like it would get the boys attention any way.

He brought his book down just below his eyes to see what they where doing now, only to see them fighting over the last seat that was next to him. Giving another disappointed sigh he continued to read about the theory behind the possibility of storage scrolls.

A collective gasp that sounded through out the class brought Naruto from his book again, only for him to go wide eyed like the rest of the class.

Moments ago after Ino and Sakura where done pulling each other's hair and what not, they had chased each other around the class. As they were running they bumped into a civilian girl who was one of the only other non-fangirls in the class. As she was falling she had rotated her body to brace her self for the impact of the ground. Instead of hitting the ground, thought, she fell on top of an unsuspecting Sasuke, lips locked.

The entire class was silent as the two kissed, completely frozen, for at least 10 seconds before Sasuke suddenly ended it and started coughing and muttering under his breath. The girl on the other hand had not moved form her position. All emotions and facial expressions were gone from her face.

Until she let out a girlish sequel that was so high pitched, it almost shattered all the glass in the immediate area.

* * *

It was at this time that all real kunoichi in the Elemental Nations felt a feeling of loss and anger. Everyone of them from the old and retired to the ones in the middle of some fierce battle for their lives, all of them stopped what they were doing and bowed their heads. Mourning the lost of one of their own to the mostly incurable disease that made their most hated foes, fangirls.

* * *

After Naruto had regained his hearing, he looked to see that Sakura, Ino and the entire Sasuke fanclub were chasing the bragging civilian girl for stealing 'their Sasuke-kun's' first kiss.

Having enough, he looked at Hinata who had a cloud of depression above her head. A sweat-drop appeared on the back of Naruto's head as he looked at his friend's current state. He know she did not get this way over Sasuke's kiss, because they where not exactly friends, so he had no clue what she was upset about. Filing it as 'girl problems he couldn't possibly understand' in his mind, he gave a small cough to wake Hinata from her state of mind and continued to read his book.

Unfortunately his cough was not small enough as it attracted the attention of the pink menace… I mean Sakura.

Turning her head to where she heard a cough, Sakura saw a cute looking boy sitting next to Hinata. Said boy was wear black pants and a black and red shirt with a matching jacket that was left open.

"_Those clothes look good on him…, but not as good as Sasuke-kun," _she thought as she took in the rest of the appearance of the new boy.

"_Blond hair, pretty blue eye, and whisker marks… wait WHISKER MARKS. That's, that's NARUTO!" _ she thought as her anger increased.

How dare he dress like that, trying to take my attention from 'her' Sasuke-kun.

Naruto could hear the girls approach and lowered his book to see Sakura with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. His eyes then eyed the rest of the class who attention was on the two of them wanting to see what would happen.

"May I help you?" he asked, his eyes returning to his book. He could have sworn he saw a tick mark appear on her head.

"Naruto, you baka, what do you think you're doing?"

He said nothing for a long time before he slowly turned the page in his book. He could feel Sakura's irritation increase and it made him smile. This could be fun.

"I am reading a book?"

"Wait you can read?" she asked in mock surprise. The rest of the class laughed at the jab at his intelligence.

"Obviously," he said in a bored tone, not looking up from his book.

"Why do you have a sword, and why have you not given it to Sasuke-kun?"

"I would never give Sasuke my 'sword'. In fact I thought for sure that he was going to use his own 'sword' on his own teammates until that stunt from before. But I still keep my 'sword' away from him, there is no telling what he would do with it," he said with a straight face trying not to laugh. **(A/N: If you don't get this than good for you.)**

The entire class was quiet thinking of his words, wondering why he was implying the Sasuke would turn traitor if he gave him his sword.

All was quiet until Kiba fell onto the floor crack up laughing. The class looked at him wondering what he was laughing at. The sound of a head hitting a desk turned the classes' attention to Shikamaru who muttering something about, "troublesome blonds."

Angered that she could not understand the baka's words when the class mutt and lazy-ass could, she settled a glare at the blond.

"Why are you even here anyway? We all know that you're such a failure of a ninja that you can't even do make a simple clone, so what hope do you have of passing. You should just go home now and save yourself the embarrassment."

Hinata, who was sitting quietly, couldn't take the girl insulting her friend like she had been. She had been gathering up her small courage and was about about to stand up for Naruto when she saw him slowly shaking his head. Confused, she saw amusement and a hint of mischief in his eyes. That along with his smile that was still on his face was enough to want to see what he was going to go.

"Is that right?" he said finally turning to face her with a dangerous smile.

"Yeah it is."

"Ok than how about a bet?"

Sakura had been expecting him to protest, to scream to the heavens that he would be the Hokage or something like. Not this.

"A-A bet?"

"Yeah a bet." He said taking a thinking pose.

"I bet that I pass the ninjutsu part of the exam… no scratch that. I bet that I will score the highest in the ninjutsu portion of the exam. That means that I will do better than everyone, including Sasuke." He said with a smirk.

The class instantly started to whisper amongst themselves at the new development. Naruto Uzumaki, the dead last of the class, just said that he was going to do the three required jutsu better than Sasuke Uchiha, the guaranteed Rookie of the Years, when his could not even do one of them.

Sakura was silent. She was having an inner conversation about what to do.

'_Why are you hesitating? This idiot just said that he was going to do better than our Sasuke-kun punishment must be dealt. Cha!' _Inner-Sakura said as she hammered an outline of Naruto.

"_I don't knew," _

'_What?! You think that this nobody is better than our Sasuke-kun?!'_

"_What? No_!" Sakura thought trying to defend her actions._ "It is just…" _she looks at Naruto's smirking face,_ "That look he has. It's like he thinks he can do it."_

'_So what?! That baka thinks he can do anything. We all know that our Sasuke-kun's the best ever. Cha!_

Naruto, who was unaware of the inner conversation in the girl's head, could see the indecision on her face and his smirk grew.

"Oh no Sakura how could you," he said in mock surprise, "How could you claim to Sasuke's number one girl if you think he can be beat by the dope of the class?"

Sakura could feel her anger from before rising. How dare him. How dare he question her love and commitment to _**her**_ Sasuke-kun.

"OF COURSE I KNOW SASUKE-KUN WILL BEAT YOU! He is an Uchiha, an elite. Your just some clan less nobody who can't even compare to him," she screeched shaking her fist, threateningly at him.

Naruto quickly pushed down his anger about her comment about his clan and resisted to use her last sentence back at her, instead his just kept his smirk.

"So you accept?"

"OF COURSE I ACC-"

"Before you agree. How about I make it more interesting?" he said, cutting off her annoying screeches.

Sakura was a little pissed he interrupted her but that was replaced by curiosity.

"How?"

Naruto's smirk vanished as he took a mock thinking pose.

"Hmmmm? How about if I win and score the best in ninjutsu, then you can't talk to me for one week, no you can't talk to any boy for a week…. Including Sasuke," he added as an after thought.

Hey he may think of him as an arrogant prick with a stick up his ass, but no one should have to endure Sakura's screeches 24/7. And this way no one could say he never did a nice thing for the Uchiha.

"And WHEN I win?" she said after considering it.

Naruto's face spread into a foxlike grin.

"Then I will tell you one Sasuke's biggest secrets. A secret that has only three certain letters."

The class, who had been quiet during the conversation, started to whisper again. How did the class dobe know one of Sasuke's secrets if he told no one anything?

Some of the students looked in Sasuke's direction to see nothing about him had changed… except that his eyes were wide and there was sweat on his brow.

"_How does he know about that? HE can't know about that, could he? Yeah that is, he doesn't know. He's bluffing, but he said three letters. SO HE DOES KNOW!" _Sasuke thought as he whipped his head around. Looking at Naruto with desperation in his eyes.

Naruto was laughing on the inside as he looked at the normally stoic face that belonged to the Uchiha.

Yes he knew about the CRA or Clan Restoration Act. It was a law that said if a clan's numbers were near extinction, than a clan male had to take multiple wives to restore the clan.

He found out about it when he opened one of his mothers letters. She had written in great detailed about what the program was and how it could be applied to him, even a loop-hole that could get him out of it if it was forced on him. She also said that if he truly loved the girls and they loved him then he had her blessing, but if it was anything less than she would find a way to revive herself, torture and kill him repeatedly.

Even if it was in a letter and his mother was sadly dead, the threat seemed all too real to him. Not that he was going to tempt her.

Sakura had turned her back to Naruto and had taken what she thought was a _cute _thinking pose.

As she weighted the pros and cons of the bet, these were her main thoughts: If the dobe, by some miracle, won then she would not be able to talk to any boys for an entire week. This would allow the other hussies to make a move on 'her' Sasuke-kun, not that they had a chance though.

But if she had more time to make plans for Sasuke, go over details and to make a fool proof plan, then it might not be so bad if she lost.

But when she won, Naruto would have to tell her one of Sasuke-kun's secrets and by the looks of his reaction it was a big one. And if she knew his secret than he would want her to tell him one of her secrets, which she would. And then he would feel more comfortable around her and in time he would tell her another secret. Then she would tell him one of hers and so on, and so on. Until he realizes that they have told everything about each other and that they are perfect for one another. Then he would ask her to marry him, and she would say yes. Then….

Her face turned red and she let out a schoolgirl squeal as she thought about what they would do after the wedding.

Deciding that the squeal was a sign that she'd made up her mind, Naruto broke her out of her thoughts.

"So… is it a bet?" his grin in place.

Breaking out of her argument with her inner self about what to name their children after becoming Mrs. Uchiha, she looked at his hand before shaking it with a little to much enthusiasm.

"Yeah it's a bet. You better prepare to loose because NO ONE CAN BEAT SASUKE-KUN!" she screeched, then looked over at a horrified Sasuke and gave what she thought was a _sexy _wink.

Sasuke gave a shudder as turned to the blank board and gave it a death glare. As he thought of the situation he was in, he was conflicted. On one hand when he beat the dobe, he would once again prove that he was the best and that would cause Naruto to lose he stupid bet, but if Naruto lose (he gave a shudder) than he would tell his number one fangirl about the CRA who would then screech it to the heavens. If they found out about that then his fangirl would stop focusing one competing against each other, they would focus all the attention on him. And that could NOT happen.

But if Naruto won the bet than the banshee would leave him alone for an entire week. That idea was very tempting but for that to happen Naruto would have to win his bet and he, the Uchiha elite, would have to be second in something and his pride would not stand for that. So either way he lost. Not willing to continue thinking about it, he began thinking of all the way to kill his brother… and torturing a blond.

It was at this time that Iruka and Mizuki came into the room. They both were surprised by Naruto's new outfit and that sword on his back but did not think anything of it. As they walked to the desk, they picked different parts of conversations. Mostly concerning something about Naruto making a bet with Sakura and who they thought was going to win.

Once they both got ready for the day Iruka tried to calm the class.

"Alright class," he said but was ignored.

"Class," again he was ignored.

"It is time to be quiet now," no one seemed to hear him or they just did not care. Naruto, Hinata, and Shikamaru all covered their ears because they new what would happen next.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP AND SIT YOUR ASSES DOWN!" he yelled activating his **Big Head Jutsu.**

Instantly everyone in the room was in their seats and quietly waiting for instructions.

"Thank you," he said with a kind smile, "Now as you all know today is the day you take your genin exams so you can become a shinobi of Konoha."

All the genin were excited to, hopefully, become official ninja and because they caught a hidden meaning in Iruka's words, they didn't have to stay in the academy any longer.

"Now," Iruka continued, "Your test will be divided into four different parts: the written exam, taijutsu, accuracy, and ninjutsu. The taijutsu exam will be a spar between students that will take place after the accuracy exam, and the ninjutsu are over the three require jutsu will be held after that. Now we will begin the written exam," he said looking around the room, "any questions?"

No one put their hand up. They were all too excited to take the exam to want to delay it any longer than necessary.

Nodding in satisfaction, Iruka and Mizuki started to pass out papers.

"You will have 105 minutes to complete your exam. You can turn it in whenever you finish though. You may begin as soon as you get your test." He said laying down the papers.

When Mizuki got to Naruto, though, he released his paper in the air causing it to catch air and float to the front of the class. Mizuki had be expecting him to have an outburst saying something like how he purposely did that and demand him to pick it up for him, if he did then him could dock points off of Naruto's score for disrupting the class. But no, all he got was an annoyed huff as Naruto went to get his test causing Mizuki to frown and finish passing out papers, then return to his desk to sleep.

When Naruto got back to his seat and looked at the questions on his test, he know something was up. All of his questions had to be at least jounin level, none of which should be on a genin test. The question's wording was also so complex that he could not even read one sentence without being confused.

Now this has happened before on his test and quizzes, him not understanding the test because it was overly hard, but all those times he had not really cared. But this time was different.

Looking at the sleeping form of Mizuki he wondered if he had switched his test with a harder one. He would not put it passed him to do that; it was no secret that Mizuki hated the last Uzumaki; the paper stunt was proof of that.

But after thinking about it, he didn't think his test was switched. For one he had seen Iruka pull out the exam pile and handed a section of it to Mizuki, and he knew Iruka did not hate him anymore. He was not overly nice to him either, instead he was treated like everyone else; nothing more nothing less, and he was okay with that.

So that meant that his test was tampered with.

After checking that the Iruka and Mizuki weren't looking, the former feverishly grading papers, the latter still asleep, he lightly tapped Hinata to get her attention.

Hinata has been having an interesting day. She had witnessed everything that had happened in the class thus far along with everyone else. After watching how Naruto had handled all the taunts and insults, she had realized that she still was not strong enough. If she had been the one that everyone made fun of then Naruto would not hesitate to defend her, and yet she did. Why did she?

Granted he had asked her not to because the whole thing with the bet, which she knew he was going to win, but that did not excuse her behavior for all the time before.

She gave a sad sigh and started to berate herself again when Mizuki had his paper go to the class. At least he was not using his happy-go-lucky mask.

The test so far had been easy enough with only a fourth of it being difficult. She was about to answer another question when she felt something bump into her leg. At first she had thought it was an accidents but he kept on doing it.

Looking up form her test, she looked at her friend wonder what he could want in the middle of such an important test. Surely he did not want to cheat off her?

Her sight fears were put to rest when instead of looking at her test Naruto was looking at her. (Making her blush a little bit) He then pointed at her, then his eyes, then back to her, and finally his test. This confused her until she realized that for some reason he wanted her to use her **Byakugan **on his test. Curious, she did as he wanted.

Her eyes activated, she immediately saw what was wrong. Her eyes could see all chakra weather it is inside a person or be used in a jutsu, and she saw what appeared to be a layer of chakra on the paper. But why was it there? She knew that Naruto did not cause it; his chakra control was not good enough to preform the feat. So who did it?

Gasping she turn to Mizuki and she saw the satisfied smirk on his sleeping face and frowned.

Naruto saw Hinata's look of confusion and that had confirmed his suspicion. Placing his finger on the paper, he channeled as little chakra into it as he could. Moments after he did this the illusion on his paper faded away revealing the true genin exam.

Giving a smile to his friend and mouthing a 'Thank You' he started his test and the first of the four exams.

* * *

Naruto and the others exited the academy and had entered the training area in the back of the school. The second and third portion of the exam would be held here.

The written had gone good enough. After the genjutsu was disabled, Naruto had gone though the test at a moderate pace. The question were easy with only a few giving him trouble, though he knew for a fact that he did not ace it but he did do enough to pass. He just wished he paid more attention to Iruka's boring lectures.

The second part of the exam had focused on accuracy with kunai and shurikens. It was really straightforward: ten Kunai and shurikens, each with ten targets. The closer you get to the center the better you did.

As always Sasuke did the best hitting the center with all twenty projectiles, but the class was surprised when Naruto took the second spot. He'd hit the center of all the targets but the last three did not stick. The class had laughed at him saying stuff like his arm was to weak to through twenty things in row or that his luck had run out, but in reality the weapons were just to dull to do anything with.

Naruto had a smile on his face as he walked to the sparring area. He had done better than he thought he would in the last test. Throughout his entire time in the academy, he had purposely avoided hitting the center target when it was his turn to practice his accuracy, this time he tried to hit the center and he did.

Now that he though about it, he guessed he had been hitting his target for a while now which was anywhere but the assigned one. His musings were cut short when Iruka began to speak.

"All right class," Iruka said getting everyone's attention, "We are about to begin the taijutsu part of the exam. The rules are simple; each spar will last for five minutes or until one of the participants scores five point or is unable to continue sparing. A solid punch is worth one point, a kick is two, and a kick to the head is three. OK, any question?"

"Umm Iruka-sensei?"

"Yes Sakura?"

"What would happen if the time runs out but no one has five points?"

"_Did I not just answer this? _"Then the spar is over with no official winner."

"Oh okay." She said with an understanding smile.

Iruka nodded then took out a clipboard and looked at the paper on it.

"The opponents have already been decided so if no one as any more questions?"

He looked around and called out the first name since no one asked him anything

"Shikamaru Nara vs Choji Akamichi"

* * *

Naruto was board as he waited for his turn to fight. So far all of the fights had either been one sided or had as much excitement as a toddler's brawl. Most of the clan heirs had already gone; they had faced an opponent that they had beat in two to three hit so theirs was less then entertaining. The only heirs that hasn't fought yet were…

"Uchiha Sasuke vs Uzumaki Naruto," called Iruka.

Damnit, speak of the devil.

Unstrapping his sword and giving it to Hinata, who wished him luck, Naruto made his way to his spot in front of Sasuke. Along the way, ignoring all the shouts and insults thrown his way by Sasuke's pink banshee and her army of howler monkeys, I mean Sakura and the fangirls.

"Fighters ready?" Iruka asked.

"Why don't you just quite now dobe and save yourself the embarrassment of losing to an elite like every dobe should," Sasuke said with an arrogant smirk as he slid into the **Intercept-Fist** stance, the fighting style of almost all Uchihas.

"YEAH YOU TELL HIM SAUSUKE-KUN!"

"YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO SASUKE-KUN BAKA AND GIVE UP!"

"THERE IS NOWAY A LOOSER LIKE YOU COULD EVER BEAT SASUKE-KUN!"

Naruto ignored all this as he into a stance that no one recognized instead of just throwing his fist up like he normally did.

"HEY WHY IS THE BAKA STANDING LIKE THAT?" came the voice of a fangirl.

"I DON'T KNOW BUT IT LOOKS STUPID!" answered another.

"NARUTO-BAKA, WHY ARE YOU IN A STANCE LIKE SASUKE-KUN. YOU SHOULD STOP TRYING TO COPY HIM. IT'S WRONG. AND YOU WILL NEVER BE AS COOL AS SASUKE-KUN, SO STOP TRYING." Screeched Sasuke's pink banshee known as Sakura.

Naruto felt angry about how his clan stance was called stupid, but let go. The insult was coming from the mouth of a fangirl, so her opinion did not mean anything. The night before, when he was working on his cloning jutsu, he had come across the Uzumaki taijutsu style and had memorized a stance to one of it's forms, though that was all he knew so he would have to wing it in the fight. He was tempted to mention that the Uchiha clan was known for copying and stealing jutsu, though. It was amusing to think the Sasuke-teme's number one fangirl had just insulted him.

Iruka studies Naruto's stance while the students were trash talking each other, it was one he did not recognize. As he picked it apart he saw that with the positioning of his hands and feet, Naruto had set himself up for what ever came at him. He could attack, defend, or dodge if he had to. He wondered where Naruto found it.

Seeing that everyone was ready to begin, Iruka began the fight.

"Hajime"

Sasuke, wanting to end the fight quickly, charged at Naruto with his arm pulled back.

Naruto was confused. Either he was used to Sasuke's way of fighting over the years, or he had a natural ability to fight that he never knew he had because he never tried, either way as soon as Sasuke started to move, he knew what was coming.

Waiting until the last moment when the fist was going to connect with his person, Naruto deflected it with his hand. Sasuke, unable to stop his momentum, kept going until he had missed the blond completely and was now behind him. Angered that his attack missed he turn to face the blond again only for a pain to erupt from his stomach.

Naruto had rotated body and saw Sasuke's unguarded body, he raised his leg letting the rotation of his body put power behind it. He could see the anger in his eyes turn to shock when his foot found Sasuke's flesh, causing him to drop to the ground cradling his stomach.

Taking advantage of Sasuke's down form, Naruto put some distance between them and started to take slowing breaths, trying to calm his racing heart and excited mind. He had done something today. He had gotten a hit on Sasuke, no one had ever done that and it felt good. He should of really started trying a long time ago.

Once he was calm he again slid into his family stance. Just because his only know the stance, didn't mean he did not study the scroll. The Uzumaki's fighting style revolved around taking an advantage of opening in the opponent. It was so made to fit every individual person since every one is different. If the person was more of an offensive, defensive, or both the user can adopt the style for there own.

What made it better was that only an Uzumaki could learn the style. The style's movements were dangerous to the human body, tearing muscles slightly or breaking bones; the style could be very damaging to a person. The Uzumaki were ability to negate these effects because every Uzumaki has a healing factor that heals the small injuries before they can cause a problem.

The style that Naruto was looking into was a combination of offence and defense. Blocking and dodging when needed, he would try to anger an opponent by not allowing a hit, which would cause them to make an open he could exploit. Or he could attack. He planned on using his unpredictableness with along with his family's ways to create something amazing. But that was in the future, for now all he could really do was try to defend and make his opponent mess up. And he had a way to accomplish this.

"Sasuke, are you ok?" he asked in a mock concerned voice, "You look like your in pain. And the way you're hold your stomach, did you eat something bad? If your not feeling well then I could wait until you feel better? Is that okay?"

Naruto's words broke the class out of their shock that he of all people was able to kick Sasuke, something his fangirls did not like.

"HOW DARE YOU HURT SASUKE-KUN!"

"YOU'RE A COWARD, FIGHTING SAUKE-KUN WHEN HE IS NOT FEELING WELL!"

"YAEH, YOU MUST HAVE CHEATED AND GIVEN SASUKE-KUN SOMETHING TO MAKE HIM FEEL BAD!"

"_Yeah a good kick to the gut is what I gave him,"_ thought Naruto.

"YEAH YOU CHEATER. THERE IS NOWAY A LOOSER LIKE YOU COULD EVER DO THAT TO SASUKE-KUN. HE MUST BE SICK!"

"SHUT UP! I AM NOT SICK!" Sasuke said as he stood up, glaring at Naruto.

"Wait, your not sick?" he asked in a confusion, then he smiled, "than that means that I, the dead-last, just got two point on the Uchiha _elite_ within the first five seconds when he was perfectly fine."

He made an arrogant smirk when Sasuke gritted his teeth and charged in again, though more carefully this time.

Sasuke was speechless and angry at the same time. This clan less nobody had gotten two points on him, him an Uchiha elite. And to make it worst the dobe even got him to admit that he was not capable of stopping him when it happened, this could not go unpunished.

Now Sasuke was even madder, every kick was dodged, every knee was blocked, and every punch he threw was deflected. He had that arrogant smirk on his face like he was not even trying and worst; he would not SHUT THE HELL UP.

"Oi Sasuke, if you are and elite and I beating you, does that means that the _dead last_ is better than the elite?"

"SHUT UP!" he yelled finally kicking the annoying blond in the chest, but not before receiving a punch to his.

Both staggers back and rubbed their respective chest, though the Naruto still had his smirk.

"Wow Sasuke I'm honored."

"What are you talking about loser, " Sasuke said though gritted teeth as he got back in his stance.

"Sasuke? If I am a loser, what does that make you Mr. Uchiha _elite_?" he ignored his reddening face as he continued, "Anyway, I was thinking how you decided to follow my lead."

"What are yo-"

"That kick to the body," he said cutting him off, "I did the same thing at the beginning of the fight. … Sasuke are you trying to be like me to get my attention?"

Sasuke was shaking with rage at this point.

"_Just one more push,"_ Naruto thought with a smirk, "As much as I appreciate the jester, I'd rather not go with a teammate."

"_How dare he?! This...this clan less loser makes a fool out of me! I am an Uchiha elite! This nobody should be bowing at my feet!" _Sasuke was about to charge in again when Naruto's words caught him. _"Couldn't teammate be used to mean those of the same gender? He had also said that if I had a sword than I would use it on my teammate. Did he mean same gender? If he did that that meant sword meant…"_

"YOU BASTARD! NARUTO YOU ARE SO DEAD!" Sasuke yelled charging at Naruto, fully intending on causing his body harm.

"_Looks like if figured out what I said earlier, took him long enough," _he thought ducking under a kick to the head.

The entire class was amazed as they watched the fight take place. No one had ever lasted this long against Sasuke. The fangirls were cheering on Sasuke like there was no tomorrow, most of the boys were just watching the fight not caring who won, Hinata was praying for Naruto's safety, and Kiba was on the ground again laughing at Naruto's comment that Sasuke was gay.

Naruto took a breathe, Mizuki had counted Sasuke two points for a kick that didn't even touch him, just his jacket.

Naruto then caught a foot that tried to find his chest once again. Looking at the his foe he said in a serious face, "I'd like to think you Sauke, because of you I now see where I stand compared to an Uchiha."

"SHUT UP!" he yelled lifting his body with the foot Naruto held and brought his free one to the blond's face.

"Time!"

_WHAM_

Hinata gasped and ran turned the downed form of her frined.

"YA SASUKE-KUN DID IT!"

"OF CORSE HE DID IT. THERE IS NOWAY MY SASUKE-KUN WOULD LOOSE THE SOMEONE LIKE NARUTO-BAKA."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN _YOUR _SASUKE-KUN, BILLBOARD?"

"WHAT I SAID PIG, SAUSKE-KUN IS MINE."

"NO HE'S MINE."

"MINE."

"MINE."

"MINE."

"_Please shut up you two,"_ Sasuke thought as he glared in Naruto's direction panting.

"Are you alright Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked with concern, helping the blond up.

Grateful for the help Naruto sent a tired smile towards his friend, "Well besides the stinking in my chest, the bruising that I'm sure to have, and pain in my face, and the ringing in my ear, I'm fine."

Hinata smiled at the attitude of her friend, he lost the fight and he was still smiling. She had helped Naruto to his feet but he swayed a little before falling, but Hinata caught him before he could hit the ground.

Laughing weakly at the situation he was in he turned his head to the now blushing Hinata, "Uhmm… Hinata-chan… could you help me to my desk? I don't think I can stand on my own." He asked causing her face to go form slight pink to dark red but she nodded none the less.

They were about to go when Naruto shifted his eyes to the Uchiha and saw that he was breathing deeply and had has trade mark smirk on his face.

Stopping the two boys just stared at each other causing everyone else to go silent waiting to see what will happen. Sasuke, though, figured that it was finally time to get the attention he deserved.

"How does it feel?" he asked, his breathing finally calming down.

"How does what feel Sasuke?"

"To get beat by an Uchiha like the loser you are?" he said.

Naruto grew a confused look, "Beat me? Sasuke you did not beat me."

"What are you talking about dobe, of course I did."

Now it was Naruto's turn to smirk, "No you didn't, time ran out before your kick landed. So officially that match was a draw."

"SASUKE-KUN BEAT YOU SO JUST ACEPT YOUR LOSE BAKA!"

Naruto ignored the girl as he let out a sigh, "Just like an Uchiha, claiming something for yourself that you don't deserve." With that said he and Hinata walked back to the academy, well limped and carried, leaving behind a seething Sasuke.

Sasuke was beyond mad. He had always been the best at everything, but he took pride in his ability to fight. Now his pride and reputation of being the best was stained because the dead last had humiliated him in his element.

"Uchiha prodigies don't come like they used to ne Hinata-chan?"

"_THAT'S IT!" _Sasuke thought and was about to attack the blond, but a hand grasped his shoulder that belonged to Iruka. Not wanting to challenge the stern look on his face, he slowly, very slowly, let go of his anger and wounded pride. Instead he decided on focusing one the ninjutsu exam were he was determined to beat Naruto and not let him humiliate him any farther. (temporarily forgetting what it meant if Naruto lost the bet)

"Ouch! Hinata-chan I'm still sour there."

"N-Nani?" she asked, wondering what she did to cause her crush pain.

"You just elbowed my bruised rib."

Hinata blushed and turned her head away from Naruto's. Had she really done that? She had thought about doing it but doing so would be so not like her so she settled for just think it, or so she thought.

"S-stop being so mean to S-Sasuke-san."

"Huh?"

"S-Some of the things y-you said to him in the spar were k-kind of mean Naruto-kun. T-There is no n-need to make him any ang-angrier."

He looked at her and she turned her head and stared back. Neither wanting to back down. Naruto because he finally got to say all of the things he had wanted to tell Sauske-teme. And Hinata because even though she held no love for the Uchiha, her caring nature did not want Naruto to be mean to him, so she kept up her stare.

They kept it up until they both got back to their seats until Hinata got a glint of irritation in her eyes and Naruto knew he was not going to win. Banging his head on the desk Hinata heard him mumble out, "Fine I will stop being a asshole to the asshole."

Hinata smile and let gave a silent squeal of joy. She had done it. She had stood up for what she believed in, now all she had to do was do just that to the Hyuuga elders... Kami help her. Losing the confidence boost she had gained, she cast her eyes down to the desk in front of her and started to nervously poke her figure tips together. Speaking in her small voice, "Umm, N-Naruto-k-kun, could y-you also be n-nice if… when you w-win your b-b-bet?"

Hearing that his friend went back to her stuttering nervous self, he let out a fake groan, "Fine if Hyuuga-hime so wishes it than I shall do, so I will not brag about my win over the mighty Uchiha."

Hinata smile and the two of them waited in silence for the rest of the class filed in the room to their seats.

"Now class," Iruka said, "The ninjutsu exam will begin. When you hear your name called, you will go to the back room where you will do the three jutsu we tell you to preform. Once your test is over go into the other classroom, if do not manage to pass then you are to go home and I will see you next year if you still desire do become a ninja. So until your name is call_ BEHAVE._ Now Ayumu Aya come here."

"_This is going to be a long wait,"_ Naruto thought as he watched the two teachers and student disappear.

* * *

"Naruto Uzumaki"

"_FINALLY!" _Naruto thought when he finally heard his name and went to the room his final test was in.

He had had to wait as one by one the students went to take their exam and it had been SOOOO boring just sitting and waiting after Hinata had left (they had wished each other luck). He would had been reading his fuinjutsu book, but it had advised him not to continue reading until he was proficient at creating a seal it showed and he do not have the supplies on hand to work. And you can only read something so many times before you no longer want to read it. He had also fallen a sleep a few times, but some asshole always woke him up with a paper ball to the face.

When Sasuke was called they had shared a glare with each other and that had been the most interesting thing that has happened. Now though it was his time to shine and show that Sasuke did not have the title of 'Best in Everything'

Entering the room, he saw both Iruka and Mizuki in front of a desk that had several leaf headbands that had different straps. Walking in front of the desk he was greeted by an encouraging smile form Iruka and a glare from Mizuki.

"Alright Naruto this is your last exam. Are you ready?" he asked and received a nod.

"Good the first Jutsu you will preform is the** Kawarimi (Body Replacement) **jutsu on anything in the room to avoid this kunai." He said raising a wooden kunai.

Getting the 'ok' from his blond student, Iruka threw the kunai at him with chunnin level speed.

'Poof'

"OUCH!"

'clank'

Iruka was confused he was sure that the jutsu had been successful but this cry of pain told him otherwise. The thing was that the voice that came from the smoke was not that of Naruto's, but of some one older. As the smoke cleared he saw Mizuki holding an area in of his stomach in pain, with the fake kunai in hand, glaring daggers at the spot next to Iruka. Though he is not considered a genius, it did not take him long to figure out what happened. Sighing he turned and saw Naruto in Mizuki's previous spot, grinning in amusement at said person.

Pinching the bridge of his nose Iruka sighed, "That was good Naruto. Now could you go back to your spot and preform a **Henge (Transformation)**?"

Nodding Naruto went back to spot in front of the desk, thanking Mizuki for switching places with him for his last jutsu, (Increasing Mizuki's anger) and went up in a puff of smoke. Standing in his place was another Iruka who was giving his smile of confidence. Walking up to his doppelganger with and impressed look on his face.

"Hmm, not bad Naruto. I see that you've been practicing." He said getting a nod.

"Good, you can cancel the jutsu now."

"Hai, Iruka-sensei," Naruto said as he canceled the technique.

"You know, Naruto, I half thought that you would use that henge you dubbed as your **Sexy Jutsu**."

"Well I was going to but I decided against it. Why you disappointed that I did not do it? I could still show you."

"NO!", Iruka yell, but saw a smirking Naruto and coughed into his hand, "No that will not be necessary just make a clone and you will be finished."

"Umm, Iruka, What is a clone?"

"You expect to become a ninja but you don't even know what a clone is? Ha, we should fail you right now if that is the case." Mizuki said and was about to go through with is.

"That is not what I meant Mizuki-sensei. I mean what would you defy a clone as?"

Iruka took a thoughtful look, "A clone is a perfect replica of a person's body and could take the place of said person of a certain period of time. Why do you ask?"

Naruto took a sigh of relief, "No reason. I just wanted to be sure that I could do this."

"Do what?"

Naruto smirked and formed the "T" seal he had learned the night before.

"**Shadow Clone Jutsu"** he said.

Five columns of smoke erupted from besides Naruto, and once they cleared a total of six Narutos stood before the speechless Iruka and Mizuki.

"_Dang it. I wanted to make two clone not five. Oh well, looks like I need more practice." _He thought.

"N-Naruto where d-did you learn that?" Iruka stuttered.

He and Mizuki walked towards the clone and felt them confirming their suspicion that they were real clones and not the normal illusion ones.

"Can't tell you Iruka-sensei, a ninja must keep his secrets a secret." He said thankful that Iruka was too distracted to care about his answer. "Well… did I pass?"

"No you fail." Mizuki said making Naruto frown.

"What?"

"Well you see, Naruto, you were told to make a clone but you have make a _shadow clone_, so you fail." He said with a sick smile.

"If that is reason, then I'm afraid that I pass."

"What?"

"Well you see, _Mizuki-sensei, _as stated by Iruka-sensei earlier 'A clone is a perfect replica of a person's body and could take the place of said person of a certain period of time." Naruto had a grin on his face as he saw Mizuki's face go red. "So by that definition (he looks at one of his clone before looking back) my **Shadow Clones** are in fact **Clones**." He looked at Mizuki to find him shaking with rage, and Iruka looked to be thinking about something.

"_Dammit, Dammit, Kami Damn the little demon. I was going to have him steal the forbidden scroll for Orochimaru-sama as a way to prove my loyalty to him, but the brat needed to fail. Damn you Iruka. (Sigh) ok I can still do this, I just need to get my hands dirty."_

"That is what I said isn't it," Mizuki stopped thinking when he heard his fellow teacher say that, and turned to idiot smiling at the demon.

"And as you said there is no reason you fail so… congratulations Naruto," Iurka said as he handed a black headband to his former student.

Naruto kept clam as he could feel his excitement rise, but his smile grew, as he accepted the headband and tied it to his forehead. Shaking the two teacher's hand, he thanked Iruka while he and Mizuke gave each other very fake smiles, and exited the room to enter the room with the rest of the ones who had passed.

* * *

All noise stopped in the graduates' room when Naruto walked in. They all saw him stare back at them before shrugging his shoulders and walked to a seat next to Hinata. As soon as he sat down conversation started again.

"Can you believe it, the dobe passed."

"Do you really believe that? I bet he just took a headband because his could not earn one."

"But Iruka- and Mizuki-sansei are in there. They would not let him just take one. Would they?"

"I think that he failed and they gave him a headband out of pity."

"Yeah your probably right."

"So who do you think is going to win the bet?"

"Is there really any doubt who will win."

"Yeah there is no way Sasuke-kun could lose."

"I don't know, Naruto did give him trouble during the spar."

"Sasuke-kun will not like you for doubting him."

"What? I believe in Sasuke-kun. I'm just saying that maybe Naruto passed because he really passed and not out of pity."

There was silence as everyone thought about what the girl said. Naruto though was thinking that maybe not everyone in the class was a jerk … until almost everyone stated laughing.

"_Jerks. Oh well let's see if they can still say that when I beat Sasuke."_

"Hey Hinata-chan?"

"Y-Yes?"

"I was wondering if you would like to go to the compound with me after class?"

Hinata's head perked up as she nodded in excitement, but then she frowned.

"Naruto-k-kun I have to talk to tou-sama, so I won't be able to go with you," she said with sadness. Naruto frowned at not being able to go to his compound with Hinata, so instead he gave her the address so she come by later.

A few more students came in the classroom sporting headband while Naruto talked about what they wanted to do in their ninja career, well Naruto talked and Hinata listened.

He wanted to save a pretty girl when she was in danger, save a country, defeat and/or befriend powerful people, rescue a princess, protect his friends from harms, and through his action help make the world a better place… well he highly doubted that he would actually get to do all those thing, but they were entertaining and helped pass the time.

The room went silent when Iruka came through the door and with a clipboard in hand. He could feel anticipation in the air, as all the former students seemed to lean forwards in their chair, eager for the results. While the new genin wanted to know who won the bet, While Iruka thought they all thought that they had a chance to place in the top three for one of the exam events.

"All right I will begin this by once again congratulate you all for passing the genin exam. As of now you are all no longer my students, you are now genin ninja of Konoha and my comrades," he said bowing, "I look forward to working along side you."

All of the genin in the room a some form of excitement on his or her face at the sign of respect that their teacher was giving them. Even Sasuke had on a smirk that seemed a lot more pleasant than normal.

"Now I will tell you the results of the exams you took along with the Rookie of the Year and the classed Dead Last."

"CoughCoughNarutoCough," a civilian boy said that got a few snickers, through everyone else seemed to ignore.

"First off the written exam," he started, "Third place Ino Yamanaka, Second place, Sakura Haruno, First place Sasuke Uchiha."

All of the fangirls cheered when they heard theat 'their' Sauske got first in something, while the other did not pay any attention to it. They had expected the results to the written part would be as such, and Naruto knew for a fact that his would not place in this. But he passed and that was all he cared about as far as the written exam was concerned.

Once the noise died down Iurka continued with the exam placements, "Now accuracy: Third place Hinata Hyuuga, Second place Naruto Uzumaki, First place Sasuke Uchiha."

"Iruka-sensei why did Naruto get second place? We all know he just got lucky," one of the guys said and got murmurs of agreement.

"Because, luck or not, Naruto did the second best in the class, so he got second place. Now if we don't have anymore complaints about how someone preformed better then you, I would like to continue." Not getting a response Iruka continued, "Taijutsu: Third place Kiba Inuzuka, …"

"Alright me and Akamaru are the greatest!"

"Then why did you get third?"

"… Jerks."

"… Second place Hinata Hyuuga, …"

"Good job Hinata-chan," he whispered.

"T-thank y-you N-naruto-kun," she stuttered back with a blush on her face.

"… Frist place Sasuke Uchiha."

"Yeah Sasuke-kun is the best!"

"No Sasuke-kun is the greatest!"

"I just said that you pig!"

"No you didn't you said he his the best, I said he is the greatest. Being the greatest is better then being the best!"

"They are the same!"

"Oh yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"WILL YOU BOTH SHUTUP I want to find out who won." Kiba yelled getting the class to go silent.

"Um, thank you Kiba. Now finally we have ninjutsu," he said and the whole class drew in a loud breath. Not knowing what was going on, but understanding that everyone was anticipating the results of this exam, he decided to make it dramatic.

"In Third place (he gave a drawn out pause) Sakura Haruno."

The class let out the breath they had been holding in.

"In Second place …"

The class sucked in another breath.

"… Sasuke Uchiha."

Almost everyone had a look of disbelief on their face. Sauske Uchiha, the Guarantied Rookie of the Year, just got second in something. If the classes anxiety about who got first then the loyal members of the Uchiha fan club would yell in displeasure.

"And finally the one who got First place for the ninjutsu portion of the exam is…"

"_This is it."_ Were the thoughts of Naruto and Sasuke. If Naruto got first then Sasuke could kiss his life goodbye. If his fangirls learned of the CRA then (he gave a shudder) he did not even want to think about that.

If he got first place then he would show the village that he was to be taken seriously, also that the a new Naruto had taken the place of the old and it was up to the village to notice or not.

The silence was tense as everyone waited for Iruka to give out the name that could decide the fate to the two boys.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

A pen dropped and the noise could be classified as deafening as everyone tried to work out how _the _Naruto Uzumaki could out place THE Sasuke Uchiha.

Naruto wanted to shout out and rub it in the prick's face how he was not as good as he and everyone else thought he was, but he remembered his promise to Hinata and settled for leaning in his seat with is feet on his desk and a smirk on his face like he had seen Sasuke do so many times over the years. Now that he thought about it he had been smirking so much that day that his mouth was starting to hurt, oh well he could afford one day to feel arrogant.

Iruka laughed silently at the broken looks on the faces of his former students. _"I guess that Sasuke losing to Naruto broke their mind. Hmm… I wonder if I should be concerned? … Nah I'm not their teacher anymore so they are no longer my concern. Well since they don't seem to be doing anything I better give them the rest of the information before their minds rebut." _Iruka thought.

"Now that that is out of the way," he said with a cheery smile on his face, "This years Rookie of the Year is Sasuke Uchiha and the Dead Last is Naruto Uzumaki."

As he expected no reaction what so ever.

"Congratulations once again on passing and I hope you all go far in your career as ninja of Konoha. Now I will see you all again in two days for your team placements."

With his speaking over Iruka grabbed his things at a pace faster then normal and left the room.

Seeing as he had no reason farther to stay, Naruto took Hinata's hand (Much to her surprise, embarrassment, and pleasure) and they proceeded to leave the room. But just to finish his day of arrogance, he gave Sasuke a look of superiority before he exited, leaving Sasuke to grit his teeth and rage silently. He had to admit it that the feeling he got that day when his was being an arrogant jerk to Sasuke had felt really good, and he could see why Sasuke acted like he did all the time now. Not that he was going to behave like he did for the rest of his life, but one day was not so bad.

Realizing that the object of his anger was no longer in the room and that his teacher had already dismissed them, Sasuke left slamming the door on his way out.

The noise of the door woke everyone up from their stupor as their mind finally processed the shocking information.

"YAA-HOO!" Kiba suddenly yelled, causing everyone to look at him.

"Alright the underdog win again, right Akamaru?" his said getting a bark in response.

"WHAT ARE YOU YELLING FOR?" shouted Sakura.

Giving her a fanged grin Kiba spoke, "I just won my bet by rooting for the underdog."

"WHAT YOU BETTED ON NARUTO-BAKA!?"

"Well yeah, but I did not think he was going to win," he then got a sheepish look on his face, "The only reason I bet on him was because his was the underdog, under_dog_. Though the look on Sasuke's face when he lose was priceless."

"SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura gasped, "He must be devastated that the loser cheated and stopped him from taking his place as the best in everything. I must go help him." She said getting up from her seat.

"Not so fast Billboard Brow, where do you think your going?" came Ino's voice.

Stopping her exit of the classroom Sakura turned to look at her rival, "Where do you think I'm going, I'm going to go comfort Sasuke-kun."

"Nuh uh, you lost the bet remember. That means you can not talk to Sasuke-kun or any other boys for a whole week." She joyfully reminded Sakura, mush to her dismay.

"B-But, but.."

"No buts Billboard, that was the agreement and you lost." You could hear the joy in her voice. After so long now it was her time to get ahead of her rival for Sasuke-kun's love. "Sasuke-kun wait! You can cry on my shoulder if you need to." Ino shouted as she ran out the room in search for Sauske, leaving behind a depressed Sakura.

* * *

"I will see you later Hinata-chan," Naruto called as the two went in opposite direction.

Hinata had to go report her exam results to her father, while Naruto was headed to Ichiraku's for some victory ramen.

"_Hmm… I wonder if ramen is in that health book back in the compound? I hope so. A world where I am not allowed to have ramen is not a world I want live in,"_ he thought as the ramen stand came into view. His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a presence appear behind him, but he kept on walking forwards.

"Naruto Uzumaki-_san,_" came a voice form behind him.

Turning around he saw an anbu in some bird mask staring at him.

"Hai?"

"Hokage-sama would like to speak with _you_ at once. If you would follow me." He said as he started to walk to the Hokage tower.

Naruto stood where he was as he thought about his options. On one hand he could go to his lying former-jiji of a Hokage and see what he wanted with him. Or he could ignore the anbu and get some ramen. That was not a hard choice if he had it his way.

"Come Uzumaki-_san_," spoke the anbu with irritation in his voice.

But it seemed that he would not have his way now.

Sighing he started to follow the anbu away from his precious ramen and towards the Hokage Tower wondering what he wanted with him.

* * *

**And Done!**

**Hello people of the Internet. Thank you for reading this chapter and I hope you liked it. With this chapter I wanted to show that although Naruto is better than most of the new genin when he tries, he is not the best because of his lack of trying before. As shown by his lose to Sasuke. But he will get better.**

**Also special thanks to the people who helped fix some of the many mistakes of this chapter.**

**And be sure to like and review this chapter if you have not already. Tell me what you liked about the chapter, what you don't like about it, what you think I need to improve on, whatever but please do not be haters.**

**Until Next Time…**


	5. Rewards and Consequences

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Naruto

"Talking"

"_Thinking, Flashback"_

"**Demon Talking" **

"_**Demon Thinking"**_

"**Jutsu"**

* * *

(Previously)

Naruto stood where he was as he thought about his options. On one hand he could go to his lying former-jiji of a Hokage and see what he wanted with him. Or he could ignore the anbu and get some ramen. That was not a hard choice if he had it his way.

"Come Uzumaki-_san_," spoke the anbu with irritation in his voice.

But it seemed that he would not have his way now.

Sighing he started to follow the anbu away from his precious ramen and towards the Hokage Tower wondering what he wanted with him.

* * *

"Hey Jiji why did you have that masked man come get me. I was just on my way to get some victory ramen," Naruto said as he walked into the Hokage's office.

Hiruzen smile as he looked at the pouting face of his surrogate grandson. He had been a little concerned when Iruka handed him the exam results and said that Naruto did not act like Naruto that much, but he was relieved that his concerns held no ground.

Naruto, however, was trying his hardest to keep up his mask in front of his important people. That is right _important_ people not _precious_ people. After what he found out two nights ago plus the truth of Kurama, The God of Shinobi no longer deserved to be on his precious people list.

At the time he found out about Kurama, he had been confused and hurt about why his beloved 'Jiji' would kept that secret from him. Now, since he is older, he could understand his reason and he forgave him. Telling a four year or anyone for that matter that he/she had a demon of mass destruction, whom had killed thousands along with their hero (at the time), inside their body could cause major trust and/or mental issues for said person.

The Hokage must have figured that if he had found out that he was hosting the Kyuubi within his body then his mind would break and he would lose trust in him. (Which was nearly the case) He must have also thought that if his mind was damaged then the Kyuubi could take control and cause a massacre. To Naruto it was a pretty sound reason not to tell him and for that Hiruzen had been forgiven, though he wondered when/if he was going to be told.

No the reason was the fact that he had lied to him again and again and again. When he was younger before he meet Kurama and even a few times after he had meet her, he had asked his 'Jiji' why it was that the villagers mistreated and hated him, but everytime he had asked he had claimed to not know the reason but he, Naruto, should forgive them for it. It had hurt to know that his apparent 'Jiji' lied to him but he had let it go.

The truth about his parents on the other hand was not something he could just _let go_. As an orphan one of the things he wanted to know the most was the identity of his parents and to know if they loved him. He remembered hearing all of the things the villagers would say when he had asked that question out loud and it made his blood boil now that he knew the truth.

His parents had loved him, but when they found out that he was a monster they couldn't get rid of him fast enough.

That was the son of some low life and a slut.

That his mother was raped by a demon and after his birth, the demon came back, killed his mother and placed him in Konoha.

That he was the son of a respectable couple, but when he was born they were so disgusted with him that they abandoned him. Now happily living somewhere else with lots of _normal_ children.

And many others.

When he finally learned the truth he was so relieved because even though he did not want to believe any of them, he did not know the truth so any of the hurtful things were possible.

What he did not understand though is why he was lied to. The only reason he had come up with was that if the identity of his Y chromosome donor was made public, then Iwa would be out for his blood. But even if that was the case, why not tell him the identity of his mother. From what he could tell, public knowledge says that the Fourth never had a child or a wife so where was the harm in revealing Kushina to him.

He did not know and to be honest he did not really care, his absolute trust in his former Jiji, now Hokage, was permanently severed. But that being said even though his was no longer precious to him, Hiruzen Sarutobi was still important to him. All the memories of the times he was nice to him, although severely stained now that he knew the real reasons for it, were still pleasant. Plus have the Third Hokage, The God of Shinobi himself, as his grandfather could have its advantages.

"Hurry up Jiji, the ramen is waiting." Naruto said still pouting.

"Alright, Alright," Hiruzen said turning very serious, "I wanted talk to about some very important news I found out."

Naruto gained a confused look at the statement, but on the inside was a different story, _"Shit, shit, shit, did he find out I looked in the book?"_

"What is it?"

Hiruzen stared at Naruto as if studying his before answering.

"Iruka has come to me with the exam results, congratulations by the way, and has informed me that you use the Shadow Clone Jutsu in the ninjutsu portion of the exam. Is that true?"

Naruto gave an internal sigh of relief at not being found out, but he gained real confusion at the conversation. Not knowing what else to do he gave a nod.

"How did you learn it?" Hiruzen demanded making Naruto nervous.

"W-Why... I-I-Is it something bad?"

The Hokage gave a tired sigh, "Naruto-kun, the Shadow Clone Jutsu is an A rank Jutsu that is in the Forbidden Scroll. The reason it is in there in the first place is because it takes up so much chakra. In order even look at the scroll, one would need my permission to learn it." He returned his eyes to Naruto," So I will ask again, how did you learn that jutsu?"

Naruto almost let out a cry of joy at the fact that he knew an A rank jutsu and that his secret was safe, but the severity of the situation made him focus on trying to find an appropriate answer. He could not say that he found the jutsu in a book, because that would lead to question he did not want to answer. Like how a jutsu like that could be in a book if it was forbidden, how did he find the book, or where is the book located. So since he could not tell the truth he would have to lie.

He felt a little bad at lying to his Hokage since it in a way was a crime, but he had been lied to by said Hokage his whole life so it only seemed fair to him. Besides it is not like not telling about his secret life would put the village or anyone else in danger, so it will be fine.

From what he had gotten so far was that the jutsu was dangerous because it took so much chakra, but he already know that. Thank you Uzumaki ninjutsu book. Also he got that in order to learn the jutsu the normal way, you needed the Hokages permission. So you needed to have enough chakra in order to use the jutsu without repercussions and the Hokage needed to trust you enough to look in the Forbidden Scroll. With that information in mind, Naruto formed a story that he hoped was believable.

"Well I guess I was taught," Naruto said rubbing the back of his head in a nervous fashion.

"You guess?" Hiruzen questioned suspiciously.

"H-Hai." Naruto said nervously. It was very easy to act a certain way if you actually felt that way.

"Explain."

"Uhmm … well… about a week ago I was going through the forest to find a new hiding place for my prank supplies when I found one of those masked guys in the middle of a clearing." He paused taking a deep calming breath before continuing, "He looked like he was preoccupied trying to do something because I don't think he noticed me. I was a little curious about what he was doing so I decided to watch him. When I was watching I heard him talk to himself every time he seemed to mess up. Then he finally made a clone."

Naruto paused in his story to see if Hiruzen was buying it, but he gave him nothing as he motioned Naruto to continue.

"Well after he made his first clone, he kept on practicing and each time he repeated his self-instructions. I managed to memorize them and started to practice myself."

Hiruzen was silent for a while; going over the story he had just heard a few times in his head. Not that he considered the boy in front of him a liar or anything, but he was the Hokage and it was his job to make sure his village and it's secrets were safe.

After a bit of thought the man concluded that the story was more than likely true, he had a new anbu member who was having trouble with the shadow clone jutsu. Plus it was very possible that young Naruto happened to find him practicing.

The silence was almost unbearable for Naruto as his former-grandfather went over his story. It was good but would it be enough to fool the Hokage.

"Am I in trouble Jiji?" Naruto said in a sad voice, trying to play his good little grandchild card.

Thinking about it a moment longer, Hiruzen gave a sigh. It was not like Naruto did anything wrong by learning the jutsu, and it seemed that he did not have any negative affects from it either. Though he still wondered one thing.

Sighing a bit, he said, "No Naruto-kun you are not in any trouble, but why did you learn Shadow Clones instead of the normal clones?"

Naruto gave a sigh of relief and gave himself a mental pat on the back for tricking the God of Shinobi… no 'tricking' sounded to wicked a word, how about … telling a convincing lie? Yeah that would work.

"I tried but I can't seem to make a clone. Hinata-chan kept on saying that I used too much chakra for it to work, but no matter how hard I tried I kept using too much. So when I saw the masked man doing a different type of clone I decided to try it. Last night was the only time I was able to do it right besides this morning though." He explained.

"Hmm, very well then, I would have preferred you learn the Clone Jutsu but the Shadow Clone will do." Hiruzen said.

Naruto smiled this. He had learned an A-rank jutsu, beat the duck butt in ninjutsu, and tricked… told a convincing enough lie to the Hokage 'twice'. Yes sir, he was on fire today.

"But since it is a jutsu in the Forbidden Scroll, you must not teach it to anyone. Understand?"

"Hai Jiji." Naruto said causing the old Hokage to smile.

"Good." He said then he reached under his desk, "Now that the serious stuff is out if the way, I would like to congratulate you properly for passing the genin exam and placing first for ninjutsu," he said bring out something covered in a long cloth from under his desk and handing it to Naruto.

Taking the gift and removing the cloth, Naruto gasped at what he held. In his hands was a sword roughly the same length and his mother's though it was lighter. The main difference though was that both the sheath and handle were nearly as white as Hinata's claws and the swords guard was a golden eight-point star. **(A/N: Like Toshiro Hitsugaya's zanpakuto in Bankai from Bleach)** Slowly drawing the sword half way from its sheath, he saw the blade itself was a shiny silver color. In all it was a very pretty weapon, not nearly as beautiful as his black blade in his compound but it was much better than the current one on his back. If he called his mother's black beauty a 10 and the one on his back a 1, than the one in his hands was an impressive 7.9.

"Jij- Hokage-sama, I don't know what to say." Naruto said.

Hiruzen gave a chuckle at what he heard. After so many years of trying to get the blond to be respectful, he now does so when he is handed a sword.

"You don't have to say anything my boy, I heard you were seen with a sword this morning and thought, since you were taking an interest in kenjutsu, that I would give you it as a gift if you passed," he said with a smile.

Great now Naruto was starting to feel bad for lying before, _"Oh well, I'll get over it in a bit as long as nothing else happens… shit."_

"I also realized that I was behind on a few of your birthday presents, so I hope this makes up for it?"

"_Damn you Murphy and fuck your stupid laws,"_ Naruto thought. Yep it was going to take longer than 'a bit' to get over the guilt now.

"This more than make up for it Jij- Hokage-sama," Naruto said returning his attention to the man in front of him. "Thank you."

"No thanks are needed my boy," He said clapping his hands together before continuing, "Now since I doubt you know how to properly use a blade, I have arranged a kenjutsu expert to teach you. She will be expecting you in training ground 42 at seven tonight. **(A/N: Bet no one can guess who it is)** Understood?" he asked.

Naruto could only nod dumbly, not only did he get a new sword but he also got an expert to teach him. Even though he felt a little guilty now, having the God of Shinobi think of you as a grandchild had its advantages.

"Good. Since that is all I needed you for, you are dismissed to enjoy your victory ramen." He said and started to work on the large stack of papers that had appeared on the desk.

As he walked out the office, Naruto heard his Hokage beg Kami for the answer to paperwork and it made him question the man's IQ since they had had an entire conversation about it.

* * *

After a wonderfully large lunch of victor ramen (which the Ichiraku's said was half off as a graduation present) Naruto made his way to his clan compound, being careful not to be followed.

His clan compound, he still could not believe he could say that.

Once he was inside, he quickly found his mother's sword and laid it and his new one on the table in the living room. He compared the two blade in front of him, giving each experimental swings and tried to move them like he had seen other people do. He quickly found that his black beauty was the blade he preferred and it was not just because he was biased. Though it did make his choice easier.

Even though he was no sword expert, he was confident that his black blade was better for him then the white one. His mother's sword felt like it was more of a balanced blade like his future taijutsu style, while the white one was lighter leading him to think that it was more for offence then defense. But hey, what did he know?

Since he figured out his preferred sword, he now had to deal with the other one. He had thought of just not using it and put it in the room with all the other swords but that did not seem right to him.

The Hokage had given it to him and it seemed like he put a bit of effort in getting it to him, though he wondered where he got the sword from since his public sword interest was less than eight hours old. He even got gave him a private instructor, plus this was BY FAR the best present his former Jiji had given him. It was certainly better than the coupons to restaurant that refused him, or that rundown apartment.

…

Shit he was still going to have to live there wouldn't he. Yeah he would if he wanted to keep the knowledge of his heritage a secret.

Sighing Naruto came to a decision. He would learn two different kenjutsu styles. His black sword's style would be based on the Uzumaki style. The white one, however, he would be using to learn whatever his instructor taught him and be the one that saw the public's eye.

Man he had a lot of work ahead of him. He was sooo thankful for shadow clones, without them he was not even sure his goal would be even possible.

Standing up, he formed a T hand seal.

"**Shadow Clone Jutsu"** he said and eight puffs of smoke later stood eight Naruto clones.

"_Damn… I wanted to make six, oh well I can practice later."_ He thought.

After dividing the clones up (three to practice basic kenjutsu things, two to work on his new taijutsu, and the rest were to work on fuinjutsu) Naruto went up to his bedroom to check up on a few things he skimmed over the night before.

Spotting a rather large pile of the handwritten letters from his mother, he shuffled through them until he found the ones he wanted. He then got comfortable on the bed before he started to read them.

The letters he was reading where about the compound that his mother called home before she moved in with the blond idiot.

On that line of thought he removed the fake image on his person, revealing his red hair and whiskerless face. He smiled since he was no longer a 'blond idiot'. With that done, he then focused on the letters and was very impressed.

Since the Uzumaki were seal masters he figured that the compound had some kind of seal on it, like the blood on the gate, but the number of seals and their purpose got him thinking.

The Uzumaki Clan Compound was the SAFEST AND MOST PRIVATE place in the entire village.

All around the compound's perimeter were seals that prevented any unauthorized person from entering. If they tried to enter anyway then they would be shocked with enough electricity to be rendered unconscious, the same would also happen if anyone but an Uzumaki applied blood to the blood seal on the gate.

But there was a way around it: if one was to find a way to negate the electrical seal then they would have nothing to worry about… except for the twenty-five back up trap seals that would activate if the first one was disabled… and the forty or so back up back up trap seal after the first twenty-five.

…

…

Anyway the second way to get in if one was not an Uzumaki was a seal that was basically an Uzumaki friendship seal. Once an Uzumaki, like Naruto, applies it to a person they deem trustworthy, like Hinata, said person could come and go from the compound as they please, the seal could also be removed if the Uzumaki wished. Though friendly or not, any attempted entry will notify everyone inside.

…

…

Yeah no one was breaking in any time soon.

The level of protection that went in the simple compound that only one person lived in make him wonder how protected was the entire country.

"_Hmm, I'm going to have to learn more about my clan. Everything I know about them is from mother's letters. I'm sure she must have left some things out. Hmm what was that building called again? The one that has all of the book on everything? I think it starts with a L… I'll find out later."_ He thought as he went over the rest of the information.

The compound had an advanced silencing seal on the entire compound that was so good, his mom said, 'Nothing short of a boss summon's yell could get through,' whatever that was.

Also there was apparently a seal that prevented anyone from the outside from seeing in. This made Naruto smile, basically the letters said that he could train as long and as loud as he wanted without being found out. The rest told about little things like the indoor traps he needed to avoid and what not that did not seem like big deal, though he placed them in a neat pile in case he needed them in the future.

Once the letters were put away he turned to the last letter on his bed and sighed. Out of all the others this one letter was one of the most emotionally conflicting he has found.

Everything else was so simple: his mother, he loved. The blond idiot, he hated. The compound, he loved. His apartment, he hated. The Ichiraku's, he loved. Jiraiya, he hated for being his failed godfather, thank you blond idiot for your amazing judgment. Hinata, he trusted with his entire being. The Hokage... not so much. But one name he could not place with an emotion easily.

Tsunade

Looking at the letter and reading it over again did not help his confusion. This letter, like a few others about her, told about how excited my mother was for him, Naruto, to meet her, Tsunade. How her, Kushina, choice of a godparent was sooo much better than Minato-baka's. And the priceless look that was going to appear on her, Tsunade, face when she was told she was Naruto's godmother.

When she was told, that meant that his mother never told Tsunade about the role she was suppose to play in Naruto's life. But even if she was never told, where was she? By the level of excitement that he got from Kushina's writing, he figured that his would be godmother would be told as soon as possible. He also knew, even though she would be shock, she would gladly take the position and do a better job than Minato's choice, though that wouldn't be that hard.

Did she just find him and abandon him?

Or since she was never informed of her position, she just did not feel responsible for him?

Did she even know he exist?

You know now that he thought about it, he has never seen or heard of anyone by the name Jiraiya or Tsunade in the village before. But he was sure he had heard about it before.

Weird.

"_Hmm maybe they are famous and/or powerful? I wondered if they are in the big book building."_

Sighing he placed the letter with all the others. He did not know the reason the woman was not there for him, but he will believe that she wanted to be but couldn't for some reason. He will put faith in his mother's choice, she has not done him any wrong so far, unlike someone.

**Knock, knock**

The noise of knocking could heard from anywhere in the compound. It was not over loud but it was loud enough to get the attention of anyone inside.

"_So that's what the letter meant."_ Naruto thought as he went to see who was at his gate.

His gate, it felt good to say.

* * *

Hinata stood patiently at the gate of her best friendly home with a smile on her face.

The reason she was smiling was because she will get to see Naruto's beautiful home again and she will finally get to practice with the claws she had been dying to use all day.

Plus the events at the Hyuuga compound helped.

After she had explained in great detail what had happened during the exam, her father had only lightly reprimanded her. Saying stuff like she was a failure for not getting the Rookie of the Year spot, or telling her that she shamed the clan because the dead last placed better than her in something, things that she was used to.

… It still hurt hearing that from her father though.

But that was another reason her to smile though, because now she could spend time with her Naruto.

_Her_ Naruto… the thought made her blush.

"Hey Hinata-chan, I'm glad you could make it. Were you followed?" Naruto asked as he opened the gate for her.

The sight of him in his new clothes and red hair did not help her blush at all.

Shaking her head no, she walked in through the gate taking in the tranquil atmosphere of the area.

"Hey Hinata-chan, are you okay? Your face is all red." Naruto asked as he led her to the house.

"I-I'm f-fine N-Naruto-kun," she said, forcing her blush back a bit.

They walked in a comfortable silence to the training ground, when Hinata felt like one of her fantasies came true.

Upon entering the training ground, Hinata was greeted to the sight of eight other Narutos two of which were sweaty and shirtless.

"_Oh Kami." _She thought before fainting. Her kind and peaceful nature and her not so innocent thoughts colliding causing her to body to shut down.

"Hinata-chan. Hinata-chan?" Naruto said as he turned around to find his friend unconscious with a smile and a blush on her face.

…

…

…

"Hinata-chan can you hear me? Wake up." Hinata heard as she woke up. She had had an amazing dream where there had been lots of Narutos. Opening her eyes she was greeted to multiple Naruto faces hovering above hers.

"_Oh Kami." _She thought before passing out again.

* * *

After passing out a few more time, Hinata finally became stable enough for Naruto to explain how there were multiple forms of him. After Naruto had explained the technique to her and told her that this was the reason he placed highest in ninjutsu, she was a little envious of him.

Knowing a technique that could reduce training time would make learning to use her claw would be a great help, but when Naruto listed all the different things he needed to learn and improve on she agreed that he need to technique more than she did.

With her curiosity over the clones put to rest, she moved her attention to the new sword in one of the clones grip. That led Naruto to explain his meeting with the Hokage and his new gift in the form of the sword.

As Hinata listened to his story, she frowned when she heard that he had lied to the Third. It saddened her to know that her friend no longer trusted the one he once saw as a grandfather. It also did not settle well with her that her friend lied to her leader, she understood his reason though. If he had told the truth, then it would lead to many complications that would end in Naruto getting hurt. And as much as it conflicted with her morals, she would rather Naruto lie to prevent pain, than tell the truth and cause it.

Naruto was very grateful that Hinata seemed to understand his reason, it made telling the rest of his story much easier.

When he finished telling about his kenjutsu lesson later on that day, he had loudly exclaimed that he would beat Hinata in a weapons spar, even though she had a large head start, just for the heck of it.

At first Hinata was shocked at his outburst and worried that he would start to use his mask all the time again. But the look of his challenging smirk, calmed her worries. It actually brought a smile to her face at the thought of challenging Naruto.

Even though all she had to do was adapt the use of the claws the **Gentle Fist's **movements and Naruto was starting from scratch, he had the shadow clones, a teacher, and determination to spare. With all of this, it made the idea of competition very real.

Hinata felt a feeling in her gut start to form as her motivation to master the claws rose to new heights. So without any further conversation, she went to an unoccupied spot in the yard and begun to practice.

Naruto, not to be outdone, also went to work and begun to practice the basic kenjutsu stances with his clone to get ready for his lesson.

Naruto made his way through village towards training ground 42 with his white sword across his back, ready to begin his first lesson with a private teacher.

Before he had left, he had challenged Hinata to a quick weapons spar. He had been using his black sword and got his ass royally handed to him by the princess of the Hyuuga clan, not that he had expected anything less. What his did learn was that he had a lot of work to do, but he already knew that. The spar just reinforced this fact.

He had also applied a successful Uzumaki Friendship seal to the Hyuuga before he left, and it only took him ten divided by five times ten plus thirty times two divided by seven thousand times zero plus fifty tries to get it right… times two if you count the clone helping him. **(A/N: If you get this right and send me a good review I might give you an imaginary cookie)**

As he entered the training ground he looked at the descending sun and figured that it was around seven. Not seeing anyone he went to a boulder to wait for his new sensei to appear. He did not have to wait long though, for as soon as he got comfortable against the stone, his body grabbed a kunai hidden on his person to deflect a projectile flying towards his body.

He tensed when a figure appeared in front him, but he soon relaxed when he felt no malice from the figure and realized that the projectile was a dud.

In front of his was a woman who appeared to be in her early twenties. She had long purple hair and some kind of tattoo on her arm. He also saw that she had a sword across her back like he did and that she was looking him over with an expressionless face and cold calculative eyes. Though they seemed to have an impressed look.

"You are Naruto Uzumaki?" It was not a question and the tone of her voice made him stand a little straighter.

"Hai"

"You're late." She stated much to Naruto's confusion.

Seeing his confusion she explained, "I requested you to come at seven. It is seven now. If you are early, you're on time. If you are on time, you're late. If you are late, don't show up. Got it?!"

"H-Hai"

The woman walked around him, inspecting him, "Hmm, your sword, why did you not use it to defend yourself? Why use a kunai?" she asked/demanded.

"I do not yet know how to properly use my sword, m'am. I am more comfortable with a kunai than a sword at the moment, and I am more likely to injure myself if I had used it m'am," he said. He did not know why he was being so respectful but something about this woman said that her no nonsense attitude was not to be tested.

The woman nodded her head accepting his answer, before she focused was fully on Naruto.

"My name is Yugao Uzuki," the now named Yugao said, "Hokage-sama has asked me to teach you how to properly use a sword. He has also stated that I could ignore his request if I wanted but I decided to accept."

She narrowed her eyes at him causing him to gulp, "While we are together you are to show me respect. You are to do everything I tell you to when I say it without question or complaint. If you violate any of what I just said or if I find you a waste of time, these lessons will not continue. Do I make myself clear?"

"H-Hai Sensei," man she was scary.

"Good." She looked over his shoulder at his sword. "I see you brought your own sword?"

"Hai Sensei."

"Take it off. You will not need it," she demanded.

Naruto was confused, how can you have a sword lesson without a sword? But he saw Yugao narrow her eyes even more. Just daring him to question her order.

"Hai Sensei," Naruto said as he took off his sword and placed against the stone. He made a mental note that when he followed the order, she seemed to take several calming breaths. **(A/N: Yugao will mellow out as time goes by, but right now she does not really want to teach anyone)**

Once he returned to his position, Yugao started to walk away. Looking at him from over her shoulder she said one word, "Come," he followed.

He followed her to the entrance to the training and looked at her expectantly when she stopped.

"You see the training ground boundaries?" she said.

"Hai Sensei."

"Run," she said.

"Sensei, how far?" he asked.

"Did I say how far?" She asked narrowing her eyes.

"N-No Sensei."

"Run," she simply said.

"Hai Sensei," he said as took off.

* * *

"_Stupid slave driving sensei,"_ Naruto thought as his limped to his apartment. He figured that it was around nine but he wouldn't be surprised if it was latter.

After Yugao had told him to run, she had not told him to stop until he literally passed out from fatigue. He had ran around the training ground ten time (1 = 1.5 miles) for the better part of the first hour at full speed. He had never been so thankful for that annual demon fox hunts.

Anyway after he got a rude awakening of ice water, his sensei forced him to do push-ups and sit-ups until he could not do them anymore. Then he was to do the different stances until he had them acceptable, he know they were acceptable when Yugao stops giving him 'love taps' with her shinai. Which was one of the reasons he was limping.

But not once did he complain. The most defiance he showed was a questioning look and that was it. His performance must have been decent because he was to come back, same place same time before being dismissed.

"_Why Kami, why. Why did you make all those with purple hair sadists."_ He thought before a movement in the corner of his eyes caught his attention.

Turning his head, he saw a figure dart across the street into an alley before pausing and repeating the process.

Curious he moved into a dark shadow and turned his hair red to better hide himself. It was not long before the figure ran across his vision and his curiosity spiked.

The figure revealed itself to be his bastard of a teacher Mizuki. Mizuki was in an all-black outfit without his leaf headband on. On his back was a large scroll and he seemed to be making a mad dash in the direction of the village exit.

"_What are you up to, you bastard."_ He thought. He wanted to follow him but his tired and aching body forced him otherwise, so he did the next best thing.

Changing his hair color again, he picked up a rock and throw it at an anbu he saw sleeping on a nearby roof.

"What tha? Who the fuck did that," the anbu said looking around. "Oh it's _you_" he snarled out spotting Naruto. Jumping off the room and landing in front of him, he spoke again, "You have a lot of never doing that to me _boy_," the anbu said.

"_Oh great, another hater," _Naruto thought, "I saw Mizuki head that way," he points in Mizuki's direction, "with a giant scroll. He seemed to be sneaking around towards the village exit." Naruto said.

The anbu just looked at him, like he was trying to decide if he was going see what he was talking about, or just go back to sleep.

Naruto just limped away. Leaving the anbu to his thinking. He had done his civilian duty by reporting suspicious activity. Looking back behind him it seems that the anbu decided to follow Mizuki because he was not there anymore. He would have shrugged if he could but at the moment he was focusing on trying to get to bed before his legs gave out.

"_UUUURRRGH,"_ Naruto thought as he finally got into bed. Now that he no longer had to move, he could feel all the aches and pain that were going through his body. But after a few minutes of painful shifting he finally got comfortable enough to think about something other than his pain.

He humiliated Sasuke in a spar. He saved mankind the torture of Sakura's learned a A-rank jutsu. He got a new sword. And he got a new teacher. So all in all it was a pretty good day.

Thinking about his spar, he wondered what his mother's taijutsu style looked like…

"Fuck," Naruto said in sudden realization.

How could he of been so stupid. Even though the Uzumaki taijutsu style was made to fit each individual, it was still considered the Uzumaki style. Each person has to learn the basics before they can start to be more creative, so each person form would look similar in some shape or form.

His mother more likely than not used a version of the Uzumaki taijutsu style. That meant that if someone was watching his spar who had happened to know his mother enough to recognize her way of fighting, his secret would not stay such for long.

Groaning at his sudden realization he winced at what he now had to do. He had to learn fuinjutsu, future ninjutsu, chakra control, TWO kenjutsu, TWO taijutsu forms, and more. Most people only learn one style of fighting and spend their entire life mastering it. But him, he had to learn FOUR, two from his heritage and two for the front that Konoha sees.

Groaning to himself, he complains out loud, "Kami when did you make my life so complicated," Never had he been so grateful for picking up a book and learning something from it (Shadow Clones).

"_Well at least now I have something to keep me busy for a long, long, … long … long time."_ Naruto thought dejectedly before he passed out from exhaustion.

* * *

**Hello people of the Fanfiction universe, thank you for reading this story.**

**Please be sure that you fav. and review this story. Tell me what you like about it, tell me what did not like, tell me what I could improve on, or if you have a question concerning something. But please don't be haters**.

**Now that this is done I would like you all to give your opinion on what the name of Naruto's swords should be. (both his black one and white) Please send your suggestions via review. Maybe your suggestion will be the one I pick. **

**P.S.: If the name is Japanese based please include the English translation.**

**And AyatoKirishima has been proof reading my work. So thanks for proof reading it….again.**


	6. The True Test

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Naruto

"Talking"

"_Thinking, Flashback"_

"**Demon Talking" **

"_**Demon Thinking"**_

"**Jutsu"**

(Previously)

Groaning at his sudden realization, he winced at what he now had to do. He had to learn fuinjutsu, future ninjutsu, chakra control, TWO kenjutsu, TWO taijutsu forms, and more. Most people only learn one style of fighting and spend their entire life mastering it. But him, he had to learn FOUR, two form his heritage and two for the front that Konoha sees.

Groaning, to himself, he complains out loud, "Kami when did you make my life so complicated." Never had he been so grateful for picking up a book and learning something from it (Shadow Clones).

"_Well at least now I have something to keep me busy of a long, long, … long … long time."_ Naruto thought dejectedly before he passed out from exhaustion.

* * *

The next week had been very good to Naruto and he could honestly say that the week was the most productive week he had ever had in his life.

During the two-day break, Naruto and Hinata had spent most of the day inside the compound. They had been training, relaxing, just spent time enjoying each other's company.

The compound had become much more of a home as well. Hinata had noticed the lack of food, so she had got a storage scroll that belonged to her clan. With that, she brought enough food to fill up the entire kitchen. Then she proceeded to cook them both a meal from the food she had brought. The compound had such a homey feeling that Naruto even said that they were like a family, with him being the husband, and Hinata the wife. The only thing they were missing was a child or two.

After he said this Hinata was strangely quiet for some time… weird.

Anyway when the two days were up, both Naruto and Hinata had made there way to the academy, excited to know what teams they would be put on, but all they got was a huge let down as the academy door had a note on it that said the building would be closed until further noticed.

Confused about why the academy was closed on such an important day in their young lives, the two genin had gone to the Hokage to see what was happening.

When they went to Hiruzen with their question, the old man had told them that the academy was under an investigation due to one of it's teachers being a traitor. This had shocked the two genin, well more Hinata than Naruto since he had a good guess as to who was the idiot that decided to betray the village.

When Hinata had asked who it was, in hope that it wasn't Iruka, the Third Hokage was hesitant in revealing the name. In the end he told them since they already had the culprit in one of the highest security interrogation cell thanks to the man's allegiance to a certain snake.

Hinata was a little surprised to hear that an anbu agent had found and caught Mizuki trying to leave the village with one of it's treasures call The Forbidden Scroll, but in a way, she was a little happy. The man had been treating her best friend so badly over the last four years, she knew that it was likely that he would be sent to jail anyway. So it was nice to know that the man got what he deserved.

Naruto, on the other hand, was a little pissed off. He had been robbed. Robbed of the credit that should have been his. He knew what happened, when that lazy anbu left, he did not leave because of the scrolls theft. He left because his sleeping place was discovered. Naruto was willing to bet that he only happened to find Mizuki and stopped him because, most likely, he was in his new sleeping place. Then he took all the credit for himself.

Naruto let it go though. It was his fault for trusting one of his haters to do something nice to him. He made a mental note to throw a brick instead of a small stone next time as payback though.

Naruto then asked when the academy was going to open. At this Hiruzen gave a small laugh, only when school was officially over did his surrogated grandson want to go to class. He replied say that he did not know but that all the graduates would be notified when it was. Getting an answer that they accepted, the two exited their leaders office sharing a laugh when they heard him cursing the papers on his desk.

It was the next day when the notification went out and if Naruto was not friends with Hinata then he might have missed it. It just so happened that the notification was in the form of a paper that was delivered to all of the graduates' home, and with Naruto planning one living at the compound until the academy opened. He had missed his. Hinata had informed him though and, for that, he was thankful. Thanks to the notice, Naruto figured that he spent his last four-day of his down time doing as much as he could. That included training studying and going to the L building, which he found was called a library.

He had sent a disguised clone instead of himself, since he wanted to practice his Konoha taijutsu and his was not allowed inside the building, and it had found some interesting information.

He had found new information about the Uzumaki clan but not as much as he had hoped. He learned that the Uzumaki was Konoha's closest allies until their destruction. He also learned that when it was attacked in the Second Great Ninja War, it took the combined armies of Iwa, Kumo, Mizu, and many smaller villages (Iwa contributing the most) a total of two months to destroy his ancestors' home.

Their losses were in the tens of thousands. Naruto felt the pride from his clan rise to new heights. From what he learned from his mother, his clans numbers where in the eight hundreds with around four hundred being non-clan members which was close to one to forty odds probably even more than that, and his clan lasted two months.

But the attack itself did not make much sense to Naruto. Based on what the book said, Uzugakure was attack because the enemy did not want to deal with them **IF** they joined the war. You do send so many men to fight by just going off "if's", he would have to find more information later.

The last thing he found out about his clan, which he already figured out) was that HIS CLAN SYMBOL was on the back off _every_ standard chunnin and jounin vest. The book said that it was to honor their fallen ally, but Naruto called bullshit.

He bet that if he asked eighty percent of the population what the red swirl on their back was, they would say it was decorations. The younger generation would probably just call it a target. And with all the beatings, neglect, and hatred he, the _Uzumaki Heir,_ received from people wearing the _Uzumaki symbol_, there was no way in hell that his clan was being honored.

He would have to fix that _little _mistake, and if he couldn't… he might just create a new crest for his clan since the current one has been stained so badly.

But the Uzumaki was not the only thing the Naruto clone researched, he had also found out who Jiraiya and Tsunade were. War heroes, sannin, some of the strongest in Konoha history, these were just some of the things that he found related to their names. He had found some interesting facts that were unique to Jiraiya though.

Like how he is the strongest of the sannin or how he was some kind of toad sage but the three that stuck up the most was: that he had the world's best spy network, he was Konoha's spymaster, AND the sensei of the fourth. It certainly explain why Minato gave him the position of godfather, and why he (Jiraiya) screwed it up. But finding out that he was a spymaster farther justified Naruto's dislike for the man.

Since he was a spymaster, he most likely had people in many of the villages to keep tabs on what is going on, that includes Konoha. So most likely he has heard of his name, appearance or some mention of the Kyuubi jinchuriki before. Also since he was a spy, he must have received information within the last decade that was too important to send by mail. So that meant that his godfather was in the same village as him, with knowledge about how he was treated and still did not do anything.

Yeah Jiraiya of the Sannin was defiantly on his not so favorite person list.

Then there was Tsunade, and even with his new knowledge his still did not know where to place her. He had found out that she was the best medic in the world and was the granddaughter of the First Hokage. He also read that she had not set foot in the village since the Second Great Ninja War after her little brother, Nawaki Senju, and her fiancé, Dan Kato, died.

When Naruto got the clones memories, he had a feeling that he recognized those names but he just could not remember. He also wondered that if Tsunade never was in the village, how did his mother know her so well. If anything, his new information on the woman was leaving him thinking on a few thing, but it did seem to support his theory the she was never told that she was his godmother.

That night Naruto had slept a little better.

His nightly lessons with Yugao had improved as well. In the first few lessons, there was always a tense atmosphere were Yugao would order him to do some insane task and Naruto would do it to the best of ability without complaint. It was after the fourth night when Yugao told him to run around the village wall ten times that things began to change between them.

After mentally wondering if his sensei was related to Anko, Naruto started to run at the village's main entrance without out any compliance. All of the insane drills, all of the pain he was put through, even her attitude seem to him like a test, a test to see if he was worth training, if he was worth the time and effort. And Naruto was determined to pass this test, so if running his body to exhaustion was what it took to prove that he was worth it, than so be it.

Starting at seven, Naruto followed his order and ran around the village. At each of the village's four entrances he received a seal that weighed one pound from a clone of Yugao each time he passed. The sun already up by the time a forty-pound heavier Naruto passed out with his finger barely passing the finish line and a smile on his face.

Yugao looked at the boy's unconscious form for a few moments before a small smile appeared on her face. To tell the truth, she did not want to have a student. Actually, the only reason she had accepted the Hokage's request was because he was the Hokage. She had heard of Naruto before they had meet, who hasn't, and she was prepared for a little whining brat to completely waste her time. So when she set her rules, she had expected him to break them instantly. So when he completed them each and every time with such determination frustrated her. The training they had been doing was a form of anbu training, that even grown men and women complained about how hard it was, but Naruto did not.

This was her final test. Running around the village with weights was crazy, like Might Guy crazy. With all the determination he showed, she did not expect him to do it. But like the other time she had written him off to fail, she was proven wrong and this time with a smile. This boy was something else, and whatever path he went on; he would be great, she would make sure of it.

Picking up her official student, she carried him to his apartment. When she arrived she saw the Hyuuga heiress and when she saw the condition the blond was in, she nearly freaked. After reassuring her that he was fine she had put him in his bed for a long deserved rest.

After that things progressed smoothly between the two, and with how fast Naruto progressed Yugao figured that they might start using practice swords soon, much to Naruto's joy.

Hinata confused Naruto near the end of the week. She would have the same look on her face that he did when he was deep in thought. Every time he would ask what she was thinking about she would just say that she was trying to figure something out and that he did not have worry about it. So he did as she wished and left her alone, but he was still curious.

So in all the week had been very good to him, and he felt confident going into the team placement. He was determined not to be the weak link of his team.

He had improved in all his skill level in each of his subjects.

His Konoha taijutsu was at mid-genin level with his Uzumaki one being the same as an academy student entering his third year and steadily improving.

His ninjutsu was high genin level and he could finally make the exact number of clones he wished to make.

He genjutsu sucked but he figured that he could dispel them if need be.

His Uzumaki kenjutsu was improving, but he was not confident enough to really use it yet. Until he started to learn his Konoha kenjutsu he would not know if what he was doing was right or not.

So in all, he was at genin level since he had skills at different levels. And for now that was okay with him.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata were sitting in their old classroom in their usual spots with all the other graduates. Naruto was reading the second fuinjutsu book and Hinata seemed to be writing in a journal of some kind.

All was quite until Sakura and Ino entered the class in their normal way, screaming and shouting. Once again they fought over who got to sit next to Sasuke, and did not stop until they heard Naruto give a tired sigh. But this time before Sakure could say a word to Naruto, he spoke first.

"Hey Sakura, how was your male free week?" he asked not looking up from his book.

Sakura wanted to retort but she could not. The last week had been absolutely torturous to the girl. Being so close to Sasuke-kun when she was following (coughstalkingcough) him and not being able to talk to him, to make it worse she had to endure the pain of watching the other girls making their moves on him. There was only so much she could stand before she nearly broke.

Naruto looked up from his book to see Sakura sit in a seat, shivering. He did not know if he should feel bad for the girl or to laugh at how just one-week boy less reduced her to such a state. He went with one in the middle, laughing silently and paid no attention to the girl.

"N-Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah Hinata-chan?" he said, marking his place in the book before closing it. Giving his full attention to the girl.

"Ummm… do you know what team y-you will be on?" she asked. He had snuck into the Hokage's office before so there was a chance he saw the team placement list.

She was disappointed though when he shook his head.

"No I don't. I hope which ever team I'm on, you're on it too," he said causing the girl to blush.

If they were on the same team then they would be able to spend more time together. Also if they were together she would be able to show Naruto how much she improves. Naruto would also be able to protect her if she was ever in trouble, and maybe, in time, she would be able to protect him. Yes she also hoped that they were placed on the same team.

"Hmm, I wonder who our senseis will be." Naruto said getting the two to think of different possibilities.

Naruto did not know that many jounins, the only ones that he considered taking a genin team were Yugao, Anko, and maybe Kurenai since he had heard that she was taking the jounin test but did not know if she passed or not.

He marked Yugao off the list of a potential sensei first. Based on the way she acted when they first meet, he figured that she did not want a student. So the possibility of her taking one, two, or more was not that high. So she was out.

Then there was Anko. (he gave a shiver) He hoped that she did not become a sensei, if she did than he would pray for the unlucky souls. Anko's teaching usually consists of dangos, snakes, and rope… and that was just her teaching him math. He couldn't even ima- rephrasing, he didn't want to even imagine the methods the woman would use to teach ninja related things. (he gave another shiver)

The last jounin he considered was Kurenai. He had not seen the chunnin in a long time since she was no longer Hinata's guard. He would not really call her a friend but more of an acquaintance. When they had meet Naruto could tell that she did not really like him. She did not hate or glare at him like the other villagers but he could tell she did not want to be in his presence. It was Hinata's friendship with him that she gave him a chance. They were now on talking terms with each other, now. She seemed like she would make a good teacher, if she made jounin that is.

"I-I hope t-that who ever it is, is n-nice," Hinata said to which Naruto nodded.

They then fell into a comfortable silence as they waited for Iruka to arrive.

Naruto, who decided to stop reading for the time being, began to listen in on the different conversations that were happening around the room.

Most of the genin there were talking about whom they wanted as their sensei.

Others wanted a to be teamed up with their crush. (caughcaughfangirlscaugh)

One he heard wanted a sensei that was placed high in the looks department. (caughcaughKibacaugh)

He hears one talk about how one of their parents slept with one of the higher ups to insure their child was placed on the team they had wanted.

And one just said it was too troublesome to care. (Guess who)

Seeing that there was nothing to do at the moment since he put his book on hold, he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

He was able to get about thirty minute of shut-eye before he heard the door open and heard Iruka walk in.

"Sorry I'm late class," he said, "My alarm clock did not go off this morning and I overslept."

"Now I would like to start off by-"

"Umm… Iruka-sensei?" said a civilian genin interrupting his speaking.

"Yes."

"Where is Mizuki-sensei?" she asked.

"Umm… well… Mizuki will no longer be teaching at the academy."

"What? Why not?"

Iruka gave a nervous shoulder shrug, "I don't know. I have not seen him." He decided to tell a half-truth.

Instantly the genin started to whisper amongst each other. Each telling the other what they thought happened to the academy teacher or why he decided to stop teaching.

The clan children, minus Ino, did not speak or listen to the different rumors. They all know what happened to their teacher, how he was caught trying to steal from the village and join the enemy. None of them wanted to discuss the topic.

"Now that's enough class," Iruka said trying to stop the spread of rumors since he heard one not far from the truth, but he was ignored.

"Class." The room was still noisy.

"Class?" no change in the room.

As he took a deep breath, everyone who was paying attention covered their ears and braced themselves for what was sure to come.

"**SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY!"** he said with his **Big Head Jutsu** scaring the class into silence.

"Thank you."

"Now, today is the day that you begin your career as ninja of the hidden leaf. In a few moments I will give you, your teammates, and your new sensei that will help you all become great ninja. I look forward to fight along side you all," he said with a bow.

Straightening himself, he pulled out a clipboard, " Now, before we begin I will say this; you are not allowed to switch teams. If you are teamed up with someone you do not like, you better get over it."

"But Iruka-sensei, what if I'm not paired with Sasuke-kun. Surely there is something I could do if I am not teamed up with my love." One of Sasuke's fangirls said.

Iruka gained a thoughtful look and thought about it before he answered, "Well I guess there is one way you could change teams."

All the fangirls gained a hopeful look. Even if they did not speak like the one, they all feared the horrible thought of not being placed with 'their Sasuke-kun'.

"R-Really? What is it?"

"Well all you'd have to do is go to the Hokage and convince him why you, a new genin, have better judgment than the leader of our village. Since every team is handpicked by the Hokage personally."

The fangirl's faces lost their hopeful looks from before. None of them wanted to challenge the Hokage's decision, even if it was possible wrong.

"Now if there are not any more questions I would like to begin." He said ignoring several people who had raised their hands.

"Team one will consist of …"

At this point Naruto stopped listening, instead he continued to read his book. But he did keep his ears open to listen for his name or the name of someone he knew to be called.

As the teams and names continued to be called, Naruto let his mind wonder from his book a bit. He had just finished the section on basic storage seals and the concept got him thinks. He wondered if he could apply a storage seal to his person so he could always have his mother's sword with him at all times. It did not sit right with him that Hiruzen's gift, not that he was ungrateful or anything was with him so much while his mother's gift was waiting at home for just sitting on a shelf. Also if did have a hidden weapon on him, than he could hold an advantage over his opponent. He doubted anyone would expect a single sword fighter to pull out another in the middle of a fight.

…

…

KAMI DAMNIT! Now he was going to have to learn a two-sword kenjutsu style, as if he did not have enough on his plate. It was like Kami wanted him to never stop learning, while that is not a bad thing; he figured that it would be very tiring in the future. In fact th-.

"Naruto Uzumaki, your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake."

Naruto blinked when his internal rant was interrupted by his name being called. Looking around he saw Hinata with a sad look on her face, Ino with an anger at Sakura, and it looked like Sakura was squealing to herself.

"Team Eight will b-"

"Umm Iruka-sensei."

Iruka gave an annoyed sigh at being interrupted yet again before answering, "What is it Naruto?"

Naruto began to sheepishly rub the back of his head while mentally berating himself for not paying attention to important information.

"Could you repeat what you said? I'm not quite sure I understood you."

A scowl appeared on Iruka's face as he spoke, "I said you will be a part of Team Seven along with Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake. Would you like me to repeat it again for you?"

The room snickered at the jab at Naruto's intelligence, while he gained a horrified look on his face, "No, no Iruka-sensei you don't have to say it again. I understand now." He said resting his head on his desk.

Out of everyone in the class, he had to get those two. Konoha's own fangirl queen, The Pink Banshee and the Duck Ass Brooding King himself. Why those two? He would have been okay with anyone else like: Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Choji, any of the other fangirls, or Hinata… did he say Hinata twice? He did, didn't he? Good because he definitely would have preferred Hinata be on his team, but no he was stuck with the two people he liked the least in the whole academy.

He felt hand pat his back in a hesitant/comforting manner and turned his head to find the appendage belonging to Hinata who was offering him a small smile. A smile he returned even though his mind was in turmoil.

Iruka sighed as he saw the boy go into a small depression. He felt for his former student, he really did. He had heard what it was like to have a fangirl as your teammate. He gave a mental shiver as he remembered all the accounts he has heard. It was even worse for Naruto since he had _the_ fangirl, and said fangirl's love interest. Not to mention said fangirl's love interest did not have a good relationship with the boy. Yep Naruto defiantly had gotten dealt a bad hand.

But that was not his problem anymore, "As I was saying, Team Eight will be-"

"It is no fair Iruka-sensei. How come Forehead gets to be with Sasuke-kun?"

"Well you se-"

"Shut it Ino-pig, you're just jealous that the Hokage realizes that me and Sasuke-kun are destined to be together."

"Well there is a goo-" Iruka tried and failed again.

"DESTINED?! Billboard I think a bird flew into your head because something must be wrong with it. There is no way you're_ destined _to be with Sasuke-kun, I'm sure the Hokage made a mistake."

"No way this is a mistake Ino-pig. Love conquers all, and clearly the Hokage sees that.

"Girls maybe you should cal-"

"WHAT WAS THAT!?"

"You heard me."

"Say it again. I dare you."

"Love. Conquers. Al-"

"**WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP ALREADY!"** Iruka and Naruto yelled/thought respectively.

"_And one of them is my teammate." _Naruto thought completely annoyed by the pink haired banshee.

Once he was sure that he was not going to be interrupted again, Iruka began speaking, "While I don't know all the team matchups, I figured the members of Team Seven would be what they are."

He glared at a girl who was about to start to talk, before continuing, "Konoha has a history of producing strong genin teams. Usually the Rookie of the Year and Kunoichi of the Year is paired together with their final member being the year's Dead Last so that the team will not be too powerful."

At this, Sasuke glared at Naruto since Iruka reinforced his belief that the blond would hold him back, while Sakura was grinning at a glaring Ino.

"But surely ther-"

"No buts Ino, if you want to change teams then you know what to do. If not then you should have had gotten better scores in the academy." Iruka said shooting down the girl's argument, causing her to lower her head.

"Now as I was saying before I was interrupted," He said staring at Ino and Sakura before continuing, "Team Eight will be Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. Your sensei is Kurenai Yuhi."

Hinata let a smile spread across her lips as she heard her sensei's name. She had missed her old handler/ friend and she looked forward to learning from her.

Across from her Naruto was giving her a small frown. It was no fair, how come she got a decent team and he did not? It was no fair.

"Team Nine is still active from last year so we will proceed to Team Ten. You are Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka. Your sensei is Asuma Sarutobi.

"Troublesome. I'm stuck with one of the two most troubling blonds in the village." Shikamaru mumbled, though Ino heard him. The proof was the tic mark that appeared on her face.

Iruka sent the girl a small glare that caused her to bite back the not-so-nice words she was going to direct at the lazy genin.

"Those are all the teams. I wish you all the best of luck in your ninja careers and I look forward to fighting alongside all my new comrades. Your senseis should be arriving shortly so try to keep yourself busy until they do." He said leaving the classroom.

As soon as he left, the room erupted in excited conversation as every discussed their new teams.

"I'm sooo jealous of you Hinata-chan," Naruto said in a pouty voice, "I wish I had Kurenai-san as my sensei. She seems like a great teacher. Lucky, Kami-sama just wants me to suffer. It is no fair." He finished at a mumble.

"N-Naruto-kun I am sure that H-Hatake-san is not that b-bad." She said trying to cheer him up. It was an odd experience for her, usually it was Naruto doing the comforting and her being jealous of him, but now it seemed to be the opposite. It was a very odd experience indeed.

Naruto gained a thoughtful look as he tried to recall what he knew on the man that was to be his sensei, "I don't that much about him, just that he was the Fourth's student, and he was Kushina-sama's secret bodyguard while she was pregnant. The fact that she knew he was her bodyguard when it was supposed to be a secret tells that he did not do a good job. But I guess Kushina-sama was too good to be fooled," he said with a bit of pride in his voice, "Though since he was trained by the Fourth, he should be interesting," he added as an afterthought.

Hinata frowned when she heard this, while the statement seemed innocent to everyone else, she could detect a bit of bitterness in his voice.

"Naruto-kun."

Naruto looked at her in surprise at her tone of voice.

"Don't judge Hatake-san just because of who he was trained by." She said or rather demanded without a stutter in sight.

Naruto could only nod dumbly. Even though the confidence in Hinata was a surprise, it was not an unpleasant one. He just wished that she would have it at times other than when she was unhappy with him. But hey, it is progress.

Hinata continued her disapproving glare for a while longer before her mind realized what she was doing. Her confidence was gone in an instant and in its wake was the usual blushing Hinata who was poking her fingers together, trying to make herself small in her over-size jacket. She managed a small 'Arigato' that he barely hear. But he did and it made him smile.

Yep it was progress, and any progress is good progress.

* * *

"_Kami-sama, why do you hate me? Did I offend you in some way? If I did I am very very sorry."_ Naruto thought as he sat in the nearly empty classroom.

After he and Hinata fell into a silence, the senseis came into the room. He had easily identified Kurenai with her wild black hair and unique red eyes. Though he was not that prepared for her wardrobe change. He was used to seeing her a red outfit with a chunin vest over it. So to see Kurenai, who is very attractive in every guy's opinion, wearing a thigh-high dress of thorn wrappings, he would say he was justified to blush heavily.

Which he did.

At least he did not whistle at her like Kiba did, he did not want to be smacked in the back of the head. Thank you very much.

He was brought out of his trance when Hinata pinched his leg. When he accused her of the action, she denied it. Naruto could have sworn he saw some jealousy in her eyes but thought nothing of it.

The senseis called the respective genin to them as they left. Naruto and Hinata had wished each other good luck before she departed, but…

That was THREE HOURS AGO.

He had spent his time switching between reading, napping, thinking, and drawing small seals. He had been very nervous when Sakura caught him in the middle of drawing one of his seals, but he was relieved when she said that he should be doing something useful instead of drawing scribbles. Then she went to ask Sasuke for a date.

In fact, his time waiting would not have been that if Sakura did not find the need to talk every few minutes. Even with all his patience and determination not to react, he could feel his eye twitch every time she opened her mouth asking the stoic boy for a date. He sort of felt sorry for the boy that was if he was not such an asshole.

Maybe if he would drop his 'I hate every one and everything' attitude and started to act more social then maybe he would lose his fangirls since they seemed to find his anti-social behavior attractive…

"Hey Sasuke-kun, do you want to get something to eat later?"

Or his new accepting personality would only encourage the girls and make them try harder with their new hope. Which would be either very amusing or very annoying to watch, probably both.

Turning his attention away from his two _teammates_, he now focused on the rig he had set up in the front of the room. At the two hour mark Naruto had gotten tired of waiting, so he created a trap for his sensei as pay back for making them wait so long. The rig was made out of the many rubber bands he had found in Iruka's desk, which he cut in half. He then tied the ends together and then tied the much larger ruber band to the door handle and a chair on the other side of the room. He did this twice.

He then took two board erasers and stuck one above the slightly opened door and put the other in a hold he made out of leftover paper that he attracted to the first rubber band.

Once he was satisfied with his work, he went back to he seat, propped up his feet and continued to read his book. He completely ignored the strange looks he was getting from Sasuke and the annoyed one Sakura. If they had a problem with his rig then they were more than welcome to try and dismantle it.

Which, they did not bother on doing. He would bet that they wanted it to work just as much as he did.

Anyway that was what he did then, now he was thinking since that was the next thing on his 'things to do when board' list. He was thinking about if he should name his swords or not. He slightly remembered the lectures that Iruka gave about the seven swords men of the mist and how each of the blades had a name, and he had to admit that they sounded pretty cool. Now the problem was what he should name them. Maybe something along the lines of …

**BONK**

**SMACK**

**SNAP**

Turning his attention from his thoughts to the door leading to into the classroom, he had to scuffle a laugh when he saw the results of his efforts.

Standing in the doorway was the man that was more than likely his new sensei, Kakashi. He was not one hundred percent sure but who else could he be. The Konoha headband over his eye and jounin jacket was also a big indicator on the man identity.

Anyway the reason why he was almost laughing was because the jounin's hair was whiter due to the chalk eraser falling on his head, their was a rectangle of white on his face from the eraser that was launched, and the was a bright red mark under his exposed eye from where the rubber bands hit him. Which he was now rubbing.

"It is all his fault Kakashi-sensei," Sakura yell pointing at Naruto. She must have made the same conclusion about the man identity.

"I tried to stop him, I really did, but he would not listen."

Naruto watched as the man gave him a glare of annoyance as he rubbed his face and gave a shrug. Did he feel bad about what he did or regret it? Nope. If anything it was Kakashi's fault for being so late, which caused him to make the set up in the first place, and for not paying attention to his surroundings. I mean come on, the guy is a jounin for crying out loud, he should of easily dodged it.

Turning his attention away from the blond, Kakashi looked at his other students as if assessing them.

"All right how can I put this so that you can understand, … my first thoughts on you all is…"

Sakura leaned forward in her seat, expecting to hear the great things her sensei was about to say to her, while Naruto and Sasuke both raise an eyebrow at how the man had paused.

"I hate you, especially you Blondie." He said causing Sakura to go into a depression, Naruto's eyes to twitch at the hair comment, and Saauke to sweat-drop at the man who could not possible be a jounin, especially not his sensei.

"Meet me on the roof, don't take to long." Kakashi said before he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

The three genin all glared at the spot where Kakashi had stood moments before. 'Don't take to long? Don't take to long?' anyone who was _THREE HOURS LATE_ has NO right saying that.

Though Naruto and Sauake were interested in the jutsu he use to seemingly teleport to the roof.

Letting out a sigh of annoyance Naruto followed his two teammates to the roof.

* * *

When they arrived on the roof, they where greeted with the sight of the new sensei leaning against the railing of the building reading a little orange book.

Naruto let out a groan as he realized what that book was and what it signified, his sensei was a pervert, or at least a closet one.

Taking a seat in front of the man, they waited for him to talk. This wait took longer than they thought, much to their annoyance, because it seemed that he was reading an interesting part of the book, if his perverted giggles where any indication.

After about ten minutes, he finally looked up from his book and began to address his charges.

"Well since you are all here, why don't you introduce yourselves. Tell me your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams of the future."

Sakura than raised her hand and waited for her sensei to acknowledge her, which he did with a nod of his head.

"Ummm, Sensei? Could you go first so we know what to do?"

Naruto stared at her for a second; once again questioning the academy's decision on making Sakura the Kunoichi of the Year. How could someone not know how to give an introduction, especially if you are told what to say?

Kakashi was unknowingly thinking along the same lines as Naruto, but he decided to humor his student.

"Very well, my name is Kakashi Hatake. My likes are not important; … hmm I guess my dislikes are not either. My hobbies are, well, too mature for you, and my dream of the future?" he placed his finger to his chin in thought, "Well I'm pretty content with my life as it is now so when I get a dream I'll be sure to tell you," he said with an eye smile, before he started to read his book again.

Naruto and Sasuke narrowed their eyes, while Sakura just had an annoyed look on her face. _"All we got was his name,"_ they thought at the same time.

"Your turn Pinky."

Sakura gave a huff as she started her introduction, "Umm, My name is Sakura Hareno. My likes are, well, the person I like is-" She looks at Sasuke and squealed before continuing, "My hobbies are," Again she looks at Sasuke, squealing. "My dream for the future is," For the last time, she looks at Sasuke, her squeal louder than the ones from before. "Oh! And my dislikes Naruto-baka and Ino-pig."

"All right interesting," he did not sound interested in the slightest, "How about you go next Emo."

Saskue glared at him, but started all the same, "My name … is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things and don't really like anything. My hobbies are not important, and what I want is not a dream but the future because I will make it reality. I will restore my clan and kill a certain someone."

Everyone looked at him at the end of his introduction; Sakura had hearts in her eyes, Kakashi had a look of expectance while Naruto had once again narrowed his eyes for two reasons.

One was because he brought up Mikoto's murderer, and two from the introductions his team did. Each of them gave little to no real information about themselves, being as vague as possible. Except of Sakura's squeals, that told you all you need to know.

How was he supposed to trust his team, if they were not willing to tell a little information about themselves?

Naruto gave a mental sigh, unless something happen he was going to be with these people of a long time and it was obvious that no on trusted each other. But he had to be the better man and be the first to take the lead.

"Looks like you're up Blondie"

Giving another mental sigh at what he was going to do, he started his introduction in his happy and excited personna, "My is Naruto Uzumaki. My likes are ramen, Hinata-chan, The Ichiraku's, ramen, training, and ramen. _'And almost everything related to my mother and my clan…. I geuss I could include Yugao-sensei and maybe Anko too'_ My dislike are the time it takes to prepare ramen, mean people and arrogant people who have a pole up their hole. _'As well as most of the village, Minato-baka, and Jiraiya-teme, and people who lie to me.'_ My hobbies include training, hanging out with Hinata-chan, and eating ramen. _'And finding out more about my family and working on my different forms.'_ My dream for the future is … to be the strongest I can be so I can protect my precious people, Believe It!" _"There I'm done, I am meeting them half-way, now it is their turn to meet me."_ He thought.

Kakashi looked up from his book to stare at his students or more specifically Naruto. He had read through his file and was a little suspicious. His file said that his was a somewhat loud mouth that was barely doing well enough to pass, over all not cut out to be a ninja. But the last report placed his over all skills at a fresh genin's. It had also said his dream was to be the Hokage, what had changed?

He gave a sigh he did not know why had was thinking about it. It was not any of his business what the boy did in school or what his dream was. Now that he thought it a little, the boy's dream was still probably still to be Hokage, since you had to be the strongest get the position and he could protect anyone he wanted if he ever got the hat.

"Well now that that is out of the way, I guess I should explain your genin test to you."

"What are you talking about Kakashi-sensei? We already took your genin test."

"They didn't tell you?" Kakashi asked with very fake surprise, "The academy's test was just to see if you meet the requirements to become genin. The real test is much harder."

"H-How hard is it s-sensei?"

Kakashi gained a thoughtful, taking some time to think about the girl's question before answering, "Well the last time I checked, the test had a sixty-six percent fail rate with most of the failures either go back to the academy or drop out of the ninja program altogether.

His three-maybe students gained wide-eyed and nervous looks.

"Oops, did I say that last part out loud?"

Naruto and Sasuke glare at the man while Sakura gave a nervous nod.

Shrugging off the glares sent his way, he continued, "Well if you want to take the test then meet me in training ground seven at seven in the morning tomorrow. Oh and I would suggest that you not eat breakfast or else you will throw up," he said with a weird eye smile. He then leaned his body back and allowed himself to fall off the building.

Screaming Sakura ran to the edge of the building with her two teammates in toe, only to see leaves floating down to the ground.

"_Ok, I have got to learn that."_ Naruto thought seeing how useful the technique was.

Seeing as his sensei was gone and his instructions weren't till tomorrow, Naruto left to start training for his test and prepare for the night's lesson with Yugao.

A minute or so after Naruto's departure Sasuke took his exit with his ever-so-loyal fangirl right on his heels.

"Umm, Sasuke-kun? Do you want to go on a date?"

"No."

"Well, umm, that is okay. We could just get something to eat together."

Oh kami sometimes he wished Itachi killed him on that night, that way he would not have to deal with the fangirls.

* * *

**Wack**

"Again!"

"Hai"

**Clank**

**Clank**

**Clank**

**Wack**

"Again!"

"… Hai"

**Clank**

**Clank**

…

**Clank**

**Wack**

"Again!"

"… H-Hai"

**Clank**

…

**Clank**

…

**Clank**

**Wack**

"Again!"

…

"Again!"

…

"Naruto?"

Pulling off her blindfold, Yugao saw her student on his back panting.

For today's lesson, after the warm up, Yugao started to teach Naruto the basic strikes of swordplay with shinai swords. Like the head and shoulder strikes. For the last hour she had herself blindfolded while Naruto attacked her with either of the two strikes three times. After the third strike, she would get to retaliate with one strike of her own and he would try and block. For the entire experience Naruto had only been able to block about thirty times, and each round only lasted around two seconds.

Yugao looked at the moon and signed it was near eleven, "Alright Naruto we're done for today. You can go home."

Naruto did not even respond he just raised a shake thumbs-up before he let it fall to the ground with a painful groan. Those. Shinai. Hurt.

Shrugging, Yugao went to pick up all the equipment that was thrown around the training field while Naruto recovered.

When she returned, she found Naruto sitting up breathing more even but he was still leaning on his hands for support.

"Naruto?"

"H-Hai Yugao-sensei?"

"You have your genin test tomarrow, correct?"

He nodded.

"Who is your sensei?"

Naruto moved his body so that his elbows were resting on his knees before answering, "Some weird Cyclops guy call Kakashi Hatake."

Yugao attention perked at this, "Kakashi-senpai?"

"You know Kakashi?"

"Hai, he was my captain in anbu.

"What can you tell me about him," he asked finding this a good opportunity to get information.

Yugao gave him a look, "Why should I tell you? Everything I could tell you, you will find out on your own eventually."

"Well if you tell me a little about him now, I would have a better chance of passing his test tomarrow," Naruto countered.

She thought about it for a second, she really did not have a problem with tell a little about the man, general knowledge not his more personal stuff. She just wanted to prove her suspicions right again, that Naruto was smarter than his files said. She did not know why he faked ignorance or why he did not around her, but since he was not hurting anyone then she would not mind. Maybe he only acted like that with strangers?

"Okay how about this, Kakashi Hatake, he is one of the strongest jounin in the village, his smut is his most important possession, he has never passed a genin team, and with the exception of missions, he is always two to three hours late for anything under A-rank importance."

Naruto nodded his head in acceptance, "Thank you Yugao-sensei."

"Your welcome Naruto, good luck on you test tomorrow," she said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto stared at the spot his sensei had been standing for a moment, "I have got to learn that." He said.

Signing he slowly got to his feet and limped to the compound, he needed a good bed if he wanted to be able to move in the morning and the mattress in his apartment would not cut it.

* * *

**RING**

**RING**

**RING**

**RIN-**

Naruto slammed his hand on his alarm clock as he slowly woke up, promising to kick the inventor of the stupid thing's ass if they ever met. Rubbing the sleep and blurriness out of his eye his opened his eyes his find the clock saying it was near eight.

"Shit I'm late!"

Jumping out of bed and throwing his clothes on as fast as he could, he rushed around the house trying to get ready. It was not until he closed the door to the house that he remembered what Yugao had said about Kakashi's late habits that he slowed down.

If his sensei was always two to three hours late, then that meant he had at least an hour before he had to show up. With that in mind he went back inside and started to properly prepare for the day. He took a long shower, cleaned his necklace (after all the work he had been doing it had gotten dirty since he stopped taking it off), and against Kakashi's advice he made a large breakfast of leftovers Hinata had cooked a few nights back.

He did this thinking that it was better to eat and throw up then to not eat at all. He should know, all those days eating rotten food when he was younger made him spend a lot of time in the bathroom, but he still got what little nutrition the food had.

After he had eaten, he created two clones to practice what Yugao had taught him the night before while he started to practice drawing storage seals. He wanted be able to apply one to his body so that he could have his sword with him at all times, so he had to practice.

When it was close to nine Naruto dismissed his clone, rechecked his stuff, and adjusted the sword on his back, he grabbed his fuinjutsu book and left the compound.

Even though he might have to wait an hour, he might not and it was better to be safe than sorry.

* * *

As Naruto entered the training ground the looked for his teammates and found them near three wooden posts in the middle of the area. As he walked towards them, he smiled when he heard the sound of stomachs growling. He could also see the look of pure irritation on their faces.

It was not until he was near them that they noticed his presence.

"YOU'RE LATE NARUTO!" Sakura yelled when she noticed him.

After rubbing the ringing out of his ears, he began to rub the back of his head and laughed nervously, "Sorry Sakura-chan but I over slept." It was not lie …. a complete lie.

"Ugh, You useless baka, can't even show up on time," she huff as she went back to her spot by Sasuke.

Shrugging, Naruto climbed a nearby tree and rested on a branch large enough to support him. Since it was probably pass nine, he sure he had another hour to kill so he took out his book and began to read about the difference of applying seals to living and non-living objects.

"_I need to find a way to think Yugao-sensei for her information. Waiting one hour was a lot better than waiting three."_

And sure enough as ten rolled around the three, maybe, genin heard a puff and saw their sensei standing in front of them, eye-smiling and waving.

"Yo."

"YOU'RE LATE KAKASHI-SENSEI"

His covered face gave a sheepish expression, "Yeah about that, you see on my way here a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way."

"WHAT!?"

"Anyway." He said ignoring the girl's cry and pulled out a pair of bells, "since you're all here, why don't we begin. I have someplace to be and I can't be late for it."

The three glared at him.

He then jiggled the bells a little to making them ring, "These bell will determine if you become genin of not. If you happen to get a bell then you will pass, if not then you will go back the academy."

"But sensei there are only two bell?"

"That is right Pinky, that means that at least one of you will fail."

He then pulled out a clock form… somewhere and placed it on a stump, "You will have until the clock rings to get a bell. Oh, and you better come at me with the intent to kill, because if not then you will never pass."

He jumped away to put some space between them and took out his book, while the three all tensed.

"Begin!"

**Poof**

As soon as they heard the word an explosion of white smoke covered the area and Sakura and Sasuke used it as a cover to hide. When the smoke cleared, ten Narutos charged the jounin, fist drawn back.

Kakashi just raised an eyebrow as he saw the clones running towards him in the edge of his vision. Leaning to the right and the left to avoid the first two clones, he grabbed the third and pushed him to the two that had passed him.

Having his balance thrown off and with more force then he wanted exerted on him, the clone stumbled into his two brothers causing them to fall in a heap. A fourth clone, that was thrown by Kakashi when it's foot got caught, was sent into the pile causing all four to go up in smoke.

Bending back as a clone sored over his head he grabbed it and throw it at a clone that was trying to sneak up on him, dispelling them both.

Feeling a presence behind him, he move right as a clone tried to take his exposed back and brought up his arm to block a kick from the clone in front of him and form one off to his side. The clone then smirked and nailed the man with a punch to the body. Their smirk fell though when their target went up in smoke and they felt a presence behind them. The next thing the felt was a pain in their neck as their bodies disappeared.

The final clone that was standing farther back frowned at what just happened. He saw Kakashi about to be hit when he was suddenly behind the two other clones in the spot a clone had been standing, he must have switched. Not wanting to go anywhere near the man, the clone took out a kunai and throw it… only for Kakashi to catch and throw it back at a speed the clone was not able to react to.

The original Naruto, who hadn't moved from his beginning spot, frowned at what just happened. Even though he know that the chance of the clones getting a bell was close to zero, he had at least thought that they were good enough to get his sensei to look away from his book. But no, that was not the case.

He was about to charge again until he saw Kakashi's book was lowered enough to see that the man was looking at him with a questioning look.

"What?"

"Hmm, I read that you used a taijutsu style in your graduation fight, I was wondering why your were not using it?"

"_Because there is a chance that you would recognize it since you spent so much time spying on my pregnant mom… that sounded so wrong."_

"Style? What style? I have never used a st- oh, that thing I used against Sasuke? Well I had thought that if I tried to learn a style then I would be able to beat him, but I wasn't able to, so I just forgot about it. It is not like I need one anyway." He said before creating a small army of clones and charging.

The next ten minute looked like compete and utter chaos to those that looked at the 'fight'. That fight was seen as an ocean of blond, a speck of gray that refused to overpowered by the blond, and random clouds of smoke that seem to appear more and more often.

When the last of the smoke cleared, Naruto and Kakashi could be seen. Kakashi was still reading his book looking like nothing happened, while Naruto, on the other hand, was covered in sweat, panting.

Throughout that entire scuffle he had not been able to only gotten close to the bells two times and each time that they were just within his reach the clone would some how disperse. What made him even more irritated was that Kakashi never dispersed a clone; he had only blocked and/or deflected and used the clones to take themselves out. If this taught him anything it was that he needed more work on his K. Style.

"Come now, is that all?" Kakashi said in a board voice turning a page in his book, "You will have to do better than that if you was to get a bell."

"Teme!" Naruto shouted.

Drawing his sword from his back, he ran forwards and tried to hack the man to pieces, but each time his strike was dodged by a simple side-step. Seeing that his latest tactic was not working, he started a new plan, but just as he was going to activate it, his target disappeared.

He tense when he felt a presence behind him. He turned his head to see the jounin crouching behind him with his hand in a seal.

"**One Thousand Years of Death"**

"_Shit"_

The next thing he knew was a literal major pain in his ass as he went flying/screaming through the air and landed in a nearby stream.

Kakashi waited for Naruto to resurface but was confused when he waited for a full three minute. Finally getting tired of waiting, Kakashi left to go look for the other genin. Figuring that Naruto was either holding his breathe a long time or had swum and got out farther downstream.

"Well that was amusing, I wonder what the others have in store for me?"

* * *

"Begin!"

**Poof**

As soon as heard the word, Naruto created a single shadow and then created ten more right after. When his clones were finished, he took off into the trees, using the smoke as a cover, to get as far away from Kakashi as possible.

He did not slow down until he got the memories of his four clones that caused him to pause.

Even if he could make hundreds of clones for his training, there was a reason he only had twenty or so when he trains. Every time a clone disperses his mind sorts through the memories and files them away. So when he is training on many different things at once, it takes his brain longer to process and file the different categories of memories. If the clones where focusing on one thing, like fighting Kakashi, than their memories would be easier to process. But since this was the first time he had used his K. taijutsu style he still had to pause a little when a few disperse at the same time. He figured that this would become less of an issue the more he used it.

Anyway ever since the test had been explained, he knew it was rigged. It did not take a genius to figure out that is it was near impossible for three fresh genin to take something from a jounin, much less one of the strongest. He did not know how he was going to get a bell but he did know that he could not do it on his own. Two genin vs a jounin was better than one genin vs a jounin, if only slightly.

That was why he was carefully making his was back to his teammates. Maybe together they could figure out a plan to get the bells, they could figure out who got them after they had them secure.

When he got near the edge of the tree line, was happy to know that his clone were keeping Kakashi distracted, at least he hoped he was distracted. Anyway since he knew that his teammates where somewhere close enough to observe the fight, he started to look around to see if he could spot anything out of place, that thing came in the form of something that was a bright shine pink. It did not take him long for him to get to Sakura's position.

Quickly covering her mouth with his hand, he affectively muffled her screams of surprise.

"Calm down. It's me." He whisper

Feeling her relax in his grip, Naruto slowly removed his hand. He saw Sakura turn around with furry in her eyes. She was about to start screaming at him but he gave her a shush.

"Naruto? What are you doing here? I thought you were fighting Kakashi-sensei?"

"Never mind that now. I need your help to find Sasuke so we can team up against Kakashi." He explained quickly.

Sakura seemed to think about it for a second before she pointed a accusing finger at him, "I know what you're trying to do!"

"What?" He really did not know what conclusion the girl came to but the word had already left his mouth.

"Your want use to team up with you since you know that there's now way an idiot like you could ever pass this test. And since you know that it is impossible for you to pass you want to team up with me and Sasuke-kun so that you could hold us back and make us all fail with you."

Naruto just stared at her as when she said this. Yes, he did not think his chances of getting a bell were high but those chances increased if they worked together, had she not heard of safety in numbers. And saying that he want their help so that they could fail together, he once again questioned her title of Kunoichi of the Year and he said the only thing he was able to, "What?"

"Don't you 'what' me baka. I figured out what your plan is and it is not going to work. Sasuke-kun and I will not be dragged down by you," she said storming off. She could not believe that he would try to do something like that. They were a team they were supposed to help each other, not bring each other down.

Naruto just watched her go in confusion, "What?"

Shaking his head when he receives information that his clones were struggling, he left the area in a hurry to look for Sasuke. Since he was no obsessed fangirl, there was more of a chance that he would see that teaming up was a good thing. And if they got the bells without Sakura's help then they would not have a fangirl on their team, a plus.

He had to admit that Sasuke was a lot better at hiding than Sakura. He had spent the last ten minutes looking for him.

He suddenly stumbled when he felt his last clone dispel, also gaining the memories of everything it experienced. Like the memories of the other clone, the pain in his ass, and it seemed that the clone floated down stream into a hot spring since that is where it was dispelled.

Falling into the bushes, he braced himself for impact when he fell on something far softer than the ground.

"Watch where you fall dope."

"Sasuke?"

"Who else."

"Good I was looking for you."

Sasuke emerged from the bush with a scowl in place. He had seen the one sided fight that had happened and now he knew how he lost in ninjutsu. And to see that the blond could make solid clones made irritated him. Plus he was still sour from his tie with him.

"Why would you be looking for me?"

Sighing at what was sure to come he spoke, "I need your help to get a bell."

Sasuke's scowl turned into a smirk, "So you NEED my help?"

Naruto narrowed his eye, "Let me rephrase that, we need each other help."

Sasuke's smirk fell.

"Look I don't like you, and I'm pretty sure that you don't like me but we need to get over it for now. There is no way that genin that just graduated could beat a jounin. So we need team up if we even want to stand a chance."

Sasuke thought about it. If he were honest with himself than he would agree with the blond. But his Uchiha pride would not allow him to accept help from him.

"Why should I team up with a dobe?"

Before he could answer they both heard a scream that seemed to come from Sakura.

"Well you could always be with the fangirl." Naruto said annoyed by the fact his team was so difficult.

"I don't need anyone's help."

"So what, are you going to try and fight him yourself? Incase you forgot the last time we fought, we tied, and you saw what happened to me." Naruto said back.

Sasuke glared at him for that, "Just stay out of my way dobe. If you know what is good for you." He said walking away.

Naruto glared Sasuke's retreating form. Why did this have to be so hard, granted he could have handled that better but still. Sighing he let go of his frustration and began just walking, trying to think of a way for him to get a bell.

He did not know how long he wondered but he figured that the test was almost over. He looked up he saw that he had somehow wondered back to the wooden poste. A glint of light was seen in the corner of his eyes. Turning his head, he saw to his amusement two silver bells just sitting innocently under a tree.

"_Does he really think I'm that dumb? Well the test must be almost over and there is always the slightest chance that those are the bell."_ He thought was he walked to the tree. As soon as he picked up the bells he heard a snap sound and the next thing he new was that he was dangling in the air by his foot.

**RING**

* * *

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura where all sitting in front of the wooded poste with Kakashi standing in front of them with a look of disappointment on his face, well Naruto was tied to the poste as punishment for falling for such a obvious trap.

"S-So do we go back to the academy now."

"I should since none of you seemed to figure out the purpose of the test."

"There was a purpose?"

"Yes there was. Besides the special cases, have you ever heard of a team that had less than three genin and a jounin. The answer is no. Konoha is the strongest village mainly best our teamwork is above that of the other villages." He said.

Upon hearing the Naruto sent a glare at his two teammates. Even though he had not known the true meaning of the test, his method of getting the bells would have allowed them all to pass. But NO he just HAD to be teamed up a fangirl who was loyal to the point of stupidity and an ass that was too prideful for his own good.

"So what now?" Naruto asked, even though he did not want to go back to the academy he did not have a real problem with it.

If he went back, that did not mean that he had to stop training. He could ask Hinata for advice and she could teach his thing that she learned. And there was a chance that he would not be on the same team as the other two since he refused to be the Dead Last again.

You know the more he thought about it the more he wanted to fail.

"Well since the alarm went off earlier than it is was suppose to, I decided to give you all a second chance." He took out two bento boxes and handed them to the two not tied up, "The second test will begin as soon as I get back and it will be much harder. If you feed Naruto than you will fail. Ciao," He said disappearing.

As Sasuke and Sakura eat, Naruto was once again thankful to have Yugao as his sensei. Even if he had eaten breakfast that morning, he was beginning to feel his body getting hungry. If he was feeling this now then he did not want to know what it would have felt like if he hadn't eaten. To make it worse the food that was in front of his was really smelly in a good way. So much so that his stomach started to growl from the smell after a few minute.

"_Note to self: Need to make sure to get Yugao-sensei a nice (__**GRRRR)**__ … a VERY nice Thank You present."_

"Here."

Naruto's thoughts stopped when the food's smell intensified. He saw that the food was brought close to his face.

"Sasuke-kun what are you doing? You heard Kakashi-sensei, if we feed him than we will fail."

Sasuke just looked away, "If we are going to beat Kakashi then we have got to be at your best, and Kakashi isn't here anyway."

"_Hm, maybe he isn't so bad after all. This team might just work."_ Naruto thought.

"Besides the dobe needs all the help he can get."

"_You know what never mind, that bastard is just asking for an ass kicking,"_ he thought with his eye brow twitching.

Sakura looked conflicted as she looked between her food and Naruto, who was being feed by Sasuke. She wished she could be in the blond's position. She really did not want to share her food with him, but Sasuke had raised some good point so in the end she followed Sasuke's example like the loyal fangirl she was and began to give up her food.

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU!" came the voice of Kakashi who had appeared out of nowhere. He was releasing just enough KI to give him a scary appearance and the part of his face that was visible was in an angry scowl.

"YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU NOW!"

Naruto and Sasuke started to sweat and Sakura was shaking.

"YOU…pass," he ended in an eye smile.

The three blinked a few time as they slowly processed. Weren't they to fail for feeding Naruto?

"What do you mean we pass? They got caught feeding me, so that should mean we fail."

"Normally that would be the case, but not this time. Like the bell test, the point of this was to see if you could work together. The bell test was designed to put teammates against each other to see if they could put the team before themselves. The last test was to see if you could break the rules to help a comrade."

"So what your saying is that it is ok to break the rules?"

"What I'm saying is this: Those who abandon the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrade are worse than trash. Remember that." "Now my cute little genin, you can have the rest of the day off while I go report your results." He said and turned to leave.

Following his lead, Sasuke left as well with Sakura right on his heels. Leaving Naruto alone still tied to the post.

"… They're not going to come back for me, are they?" he said to himself. He waited a few minute only for no one to come. Sighing he began to wiggle in his binds until he was able to grad a kunai, which he used to cut himself to freedom.

"Finally, well I guess I'm a genin now… alright I'm a genin now … oh no I'm a genin now. I'm stuck with Sakura and Sauske as teammate."

* * *

Naruto was walking through the village with no destination in mind as his mind was focused on other things at the moment. He was walking slower than normal and the aura of depression was about him. The cause of his current mood was the thoughts of his current team.

Of all the graduates he just had to be with the two he disliked the most, and he was going to be with them until he became a chunin and even maybe more after that. It was depressing.

"_What was that?"_ he thought.

He had just seen a figure turn into one of the alleys that he used to get to his compound. With his depression replaced by curiosity, he decided to follow it.

When he got close enough to get a good look at the figure, he saw a very familiar hoody and dark blue hair. Grinning he slowly creep up on the figure but he darted to the side when the figure tensed and turned. Barely breathing and being as still as possible, he waited as the figure looked at every direction. When it turn back around Naruto quickly, but silently, got close to the figure before…

"HEY HINATA!"

"EEEEEEEEP!"

Her reaction forced her to jump into the air, but she miscalculated the distance from her spot in the air to the ground. So when she landed, she fell on her bottom.

"Ouch" Hinata said rubbing her behind, she then sent a small glare to her laughing friend.

"N-Naruto-kun? Why did you d-do that? It h-hurt."

"Gomen, Hinata-chan but I just couldn't help it." He said when his laughs calmed down.

Hinata just crossed her arms and turned her head with a pout on her face. As much as she liked Naruto, she hated being the target of his pranks, not that that he really targeted her.

Seeing the pouting Hinata in front of him made Naruto think about how cute she looked. Wait? Where did that come from? He did not give it much thought since he had thought other girls were cute before, but when applying the word to Hinata. It felt weird… oh well.

A growling from his stomach reminded Naruto that he was hungry, "Hey Hinata I just passed my genin test and I'm on my way to Ichiraku's for some food. Do you want to come?"

Hinata jerked her head in his direction when she heard this and a blush appeared in her face. Her mind gave a squeal at the fact that Naruto just asked her out on a date, well he did not ask her for a date, just lunch with his friend. But to her a date was a boy, Naruto, asking a girl, Hinata, to do an activity together (eating). So to her she was being asked out. And she could not nod fast enough.

"Great, I haven't ate there in a week. Let's hurry," he said grabbing her hand dragging her along as he raced to the ramen stand.

* * *

"Ayame-nee-chan, seven ramen on the double please," Narutto said as he and Hinata entered the stand.

Blinking a few times at the sudden shout, Ayame smiled as she recognized the voice of her favorite customer, "The usual ones right?"

"Hai."

"Coming right up," she said and turned to the kitchen, "Tou-san, Naruto wants seven ramen."

"The usual?" a voice from the back called.

"Hai."

"I'm on it."

Turning back around she saw Naruto was sitting at the counter with Hinata, who still had a small blush, "And what can I get for your date Naruto-kun?"

The faces of the two genin went red as they both tried to explain how they weren't on a date … well Naruto more than Hinata.

Laughing at the two's expense she said, "I'm just kidding, now what would you like Hinata-chan?"

"Ummm, I w-would like a m-miso p-please Ayame-san."

"Ok, I will have it out in a moment. Try not to get to comfortable with each other while I'm gone."

"NEE-CHAN!"

Laughing at the reaction she got from the two, which was bigger than the first reaction, Ayame went to the back to help with the order. Leaving the two in an awkward silence.

"Sooo, did you pass your test?" Naruto said after a time.

"H-Hai."

"What was it?"

"K-Kurenai-sensei said that o-our team was a tracking and locating one, s-so our test was to find her while she h-hid."

"Sooo it was like a game of hide and seek?"

"I-In a way."

Hinata went onto explain how her team went about tracking their sensei. Kiba had used his smell to find the area she was in Hinata had used her Byakugan to find her and Shino had used his bugs to surround her to prevent escape. This proved ineffective because as soon as they thought they passed, Kurenai would appear behind them and they would start again. But in the end Kurenai had said that they had preformed well enough to pass.

"Wow, that sound a lot better than my test," Naruto said as he started his sixth bowl. Their food had arrived during Hinata's story.

"W-What was your test?"

"I had to take one of two bells from Kakashi-sensei in a fight," he said.

"That d-does not seem f-fair?"

"That is what I thought, and Yugao-sensei said that he is the best jounin in the entire village."

"W-What did you do?"

"Well at first I had my Shadow Clones fight him while I tried to get help from Sakura and Sasuke."

"What happened?"

"Well my all my clones got destroyed, and my _teammates _did not want my help and after that Kakashi-sensei took us out one by one," he gave a chuckle, "It is a little funny since the point of the test was to work together."

Hinata gave Naruto a sorry look; with her team they HAD to work together. It also helped that on one had a problem with each other. Finishing her ramen, she asked the next question on her mind, "Naruto-kun, if you d-did not get a bell or work with you t-team, how did you p-pass?"

"Well after we failed, Kakashi-sensei said that he would give use another chance if neither of my teammates feed me."

Seeing Hinata's confused look he explained, "Kakashi-sensei advised us not to eat and to wake up early, only to show up three hours late. It seemed like Sasuke and Sakura were starving. It was a good thing I ate or else I might have suffered with them. Anyway Sasuke fed me and Sakura followed his lead. I guess this proved that we were willing to help each other so we passed."

Hinata smiled and nodded as he finished his story, happy that her friend had passed. She did though feel a few levels of jealousy rise in her at the thought of Naruto being fed by someone.

They went silent as Naruto finished his last bowl at a much slower pace than before. Patting his stomach in satisfaction, he said, "So what do you want to do now?"

"W-Well I have to report to t-tou-sama about my test, and after that I m-might have to do some things around the c-compound. So I do not think I will be able to come over tonight," she said with a hint of sadness in her voice. She really did not want to go to her compound, she'd much rather hang out with Naruto.

"Oh, that sucks."

She nodded.

…

…

…

"I should p-probably get g-going. T-Tou-sama might start w-wondering what is keeping me."

"Want me to come with you?" Naruto said, wanting to spend more time with his friend.

Hinata's cheeks got rosy as a small smile spread on her face. She loved to spend time with Naruto and since their ninja careers were about to begin, she figured that their time together would be shorted. So she nodded in order to get as much time as possible.

* * *

The walk to the Hyuuga Compound was pleasant for the two. They had walked side by side without saying a word to each other, just enjoying the comfortable silence that was around them and the presence of their best friend.

As they walked they had ignored the looks and the mean whispers that seemed to follow them every time they were together in public. Honestly how many times can people talk about their disapproval of the demon being near the Hyuuga heiress? It was getting annoying. So they ignored them, well Hinata did, Naruto gave them the bird as he passed.

When they had arrived, Hinata went to open the door, but it seemed to open on its own. This was disproven when two people walked out that were not high on his 'favorite person list'.

The first one to appear was last year Rookie of the Year, Neji Hyuuga. Naruto did not like Neji and he had only spoken to him a few minutes at a time, but in those minutes he found out something about him. The guy was an arrogant ass, but Naruto disliked him for another reason. Every time they'd talk the Hyuuga would insult either him or Hinata in hidden massages that would other else be neutral comment or compliments. Also he was very mean to Hinata.

The other person that came out was Hinata's sister, Hanabi Hyuuga. Naruto did not have nearly as much aggression against her as much as Neji, in fact he couldn't even remember a time were they had talked. The reason Naruto did not like her was because of her action against Hinata in their spar, but that was not really a good reason and he knew it but it was still a reason.

When they were younger Hinata had said that they were as close as sisters could be. That had changed though when they had their first official spar. Hinata had just about defeated her sister but Hiashi wanted her to continue until her opponent was incapacitated. Hearing this, Hinata refused to continue fighting, something that Hanabi used to fight her sister until Hiashi told her to stop. He was told Hanabi apologized after.

It was after that fight that Hinata's confidence plummeted. In every one of her fight she held herself back from hurting Hanabi, that resulted in her losing to her, this caused Hiashi to start focusing more on Hanabi. It was not long before Hanabi could beat Hinata in a true fight and that seemed to enforce Hiashi's belief that Hinata was a failure. And he had no problem with reminding her of that.

Even though he did not know for sure, he figured that Hanabi just did not want anything to do with Hinata anymore. Since everyone was calling her a failure and what not and with no proof otherwise, she might have believed them and started to think like them.

"Hinata-_sama_, Hiashi-sama had just sent us to look for you."

"T-Thank you N-Neji-kun. I was just s-spending t-time with N-Naruto-kun."

Neji looked up at Naruto only to give a smirk that just screamed at Naruto to punch him, "Oh that is right, you're that _special_ friend that Hinata-_sama_ so _wisely _chooses to spend her time with," he looked from Naruto to Hinata and back, "I must say Hinata-_sama_, you have _excellent_ judgment skills."

"W-What do you m-mean, Neji-kun."

"I mean that your friend is talked about so much and the villagers have such a strong opinion of him, it is amazing that some one like that you want to be around someone like you. Then again it would seem that you two have more in common with each other than just public opinion."

Naruto sent Neji a glare that could stop wolves in their track. He got most of what was said and he soooo wanted to punch his face in. It is one thing to think and whisper those things, but to say them to his face? That just asking for an ass kicking from him.

He would have done so to if not for 1, if he tried anything then around fifty Hyuuga clan members would be on him in an instant. And 2, he knew Hinata did not want harm to come to her cousin, even though he was asking for it.

Hinata was silent for a time before she spoke, "I..I see. If y-you would e-excuse me, I must go see t-tou-sama." She said with hurt in her voice.

Neji frowned. He had wanted a bigger reaction then that. But he shrugged, he could tell from her voice that his words had an affect on the girl and that was what he was after.

Holding the door open, he let Hinata through before following her leaving Hanabi and Naruto alone.

"Are you not going to defend your sister? Are you just going to stand there and do nothing?" Naruto growled out. First he was pissed at Neji for saying such things and now he was pissed at Hanabi because it looked like she could careless what was said to her sister.

Hanabi looked at Naruto glaring at her for a time as if analyzing him, then she left with a 'Hmph' sound before she turned around with her nose in the air. She had the air of superiority around her.

"Bitch." Naruto muttered under his breath, but it seemed that he was not quiet enough.

"What was that _boy_?"

Turning around Naruto saw a Hyuuga glaring dagger at him, and judging from his clear foreheads he was a main branch member.

"_Great just what I need. Well my mood is not the greatest anymore maybe I can change that a little."_

"I said that that girl seems to be a bit bitchy. Is it her time?"

"What? How dare you say that about Hanabi-sama. You need to learn how to treat your betters _boy_. And no it is not her time, that is not for another two weeks." The Hyuuga said before covering his mouth.

"Well it good to know that the Hanabi is popular that the main branch knows so much about her. Though that raises the question, how do you know that? Do you focus your all-seeing eyes on her? Hmm Ero-Hyuuga?"

Said Hyuuga was fuming at what brat said. He happened to have heard it from the clan's medic when he was passing by, "Why you little-"

"Tell it to your perv buddies since they will probably care about what you have to say, because I don't. Later." Naruto said walking out of the compound, leaving behind the raging Hyuuga.

"_Looks like that did improve my mood and now I know to avoid Hanabi in two weeks. Weird how the perv knew that though... Hmm now that I think about it since the Hyuuga have all Seeing Eye and they can see the charka points, do they see them above the clothes or below them_?

…

_I hope it is above since that would make the entire clan perverts, and not to mention Hinata-chan has looked at me with those eyes … I wonder if there is a way to block them out? I will have to look into that._

* * *

Naruto was on his back panting as he recovered his breath.

After leaving the Hyuuga Compound, he had walked to his compound and had run into Yugao who was exiting a restaurant with a guy. When she saw him, she'd called him over and introduced him to her boyfriend, Hayate Gekko. For some reason he did not him.

Anyway she had informed him that tonight's practice was canceled.

After the meeting Naruto went to his compound to train. If he was honest with himself, than he could say that his performance against Kakashi was pathetic. He had fought him one time and when he did it was not even at his full strength. And after he lost he tried to get help and when that did not happen, he gave up. If it had been a real fight and not training, than he would have died. You don't just give up in a fight but he did and that pissed him off.

So creating a few clones he had engaged in an all out battle royal between all his styles. That was why he was laying down.

He had gotten so tired while training that he did not think he had the energy to get up to room. So taking off his shirt to use as a pillow, Naruto got comfortable as he settled in for the night. As he lied there listening to sounds of his clones training, he wondered what his mother would say to him and if she was proud of him for graduating. Such questions could never be answered but that did not change the fact that he still wanted an answer.

He did not know when it was but as time moved on the noise of his clones began to fade and the questions in his mind began to slow, until darkness was the only thing he saw.

**Drip**

**Drip**

**Drip**

Opening his eyes Naruto saw a scene that he hadn't seen in a long time. The stonewalls of a sewer, the dark water, the sound of water dripping in the distance, and the over all creepiness of it all. Now was his chance to get some of his question answered and he would not leave until he was satisfied.

So with that in mind he walked forwards with one thing on his mind.

"_It is time."_

* * *

**Hello people of the Fanfiction universe, thank you for reading this story.**

**Man this chapter took forever to write and it did not help that I lost my flash drive that contained it four times, but I finished and that is what counts.**

**Now while I was going over what I have written so far and what I plan to write I found that Kurama was not a very feminine name, and I'd like for you to comment what you think a good name for her to have. **

**Also I found a name for Naruto's black sword but I still need a name for his white one, so if you could help me out it would be appreciated.**

**Also I would like to know what you think of Naruto and Hinata's relationship so far.**

**Please be sure that you fav. and review this story. Tell me what you like about it, tell me what did not like, tell me what I could improve on, if you find a plot hole, or if you have a question concerning something. But please don't be haters**.

**Specal thanks to Ayato Kirshima and other for fixing some of the many mistakes.**

**P.S.: If the name is Japanese based please include the English translation.**

**Until next time …**


	7. The Question

**Hello people of the Fanfiction universe, the new chapter is here. **

**This is a little heads up I have changed Kurama's name to Kurina. It sounds more feminine. That's it. Enjoy.**

* * *

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Naruto

"Talking"

"_Thinking, Flashback"_

"**Demon Talking" **

"_**Demon Thinking"**_

"**Jutsu"**

(Previously)

He did not know when it was but as time moved on the noise of his clones began to fade and the questions in his mind began to slow, until darkness was the only thing he saw.

**Drip.**

**Drip.**

**Drip**.

Opening his eyes Naruto saw a scene that he hadn't seen in a long time. The sewer's stonewalls, the dark water, the sound of water dripping in the distance, and the over all creepiness of it all. Now was his chance to get some of his question answered and he would not leave until he was satisfied.

So with that in mind he walked forwards with one thing on his mind.

"_It is time."_

* * *

As Naruto walked down the dark, dreary passageway, a feeling of nervousness began to swell in his chest. He had not been in this passage for at least eight years and he was wondering what would happen.

When he had first made this journey, he had had the demoness' voice to guide him but this time around his tenant was silent and he wondered if he was even going in the right direction, or if he should turn around and head the other way.

After a few minutes of walking and seemingly not getting anywhere, he was about to turn around when a sudden blast of KI forced him onto his stomach.

But as soon as it came the KI left, allowing him to get up. Taking deep breaths to calm himself, Naruto wondered what just happened. And since he doubted that he was going to calm down any time soon he had time to figure it out.

Once his heart rate slowed down and the panic in his mind faded, Naruto thought about what could have caused the KI to appear. Turning around and beginning to walk again, he was again blast with an insane amount of KI, but this time he was prepared and was only forced to his hands and knees.

Slowly standing up once the air cleared, Naruto proceeded down the sewer since it was the only way he could go. As he walked, Naruto began to feel his nervousness return along with a little anticipation. He was once again going to meet the most powerful being on the planet and after so long he could finally get some answers… and possibly a new friend.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he did not notice that his body had broken out into a cold sweat and that with each step he took, it was getting slightly more and more difficult to get a decent breath. That was until he took a hallow breath and began coughing, desperate to refill his lungs with. Forcing his body to calm down once again and making a conscious effort to take slow deep breaths, Naruto once again restarted his journey.

Not knowing what was happening, Naruto did know that whatever was happening to him was making him paranoid as hell. Every ripple in the sewer water seemed like it would become a tsunami, every water droplet that echoed in the distance sounded like a horrible beast making himself known, even the air seemed hostel; with his body forming a sweat coating as if trying to prevent it from touching him and his lungs refusing to let it enter his body. Already he could feel himself getting light headed, having to take a longer breath to only get a quarter of the oxygen he needed and holding it in for as long as he could. He knew that he could not keep it up for long.

But even though Naruto had no clue as to what was happening, he did have a strong feeling as to what or more correctly who was causing it. His light at the end of the tunnel, the one who could answer his questions, the same one trying to prevent him from continuing, and THE SAME ONE WHO MADE IT FEEL LIKE HIS LUNGS WERE GOING TO EXPLODE. There was also a feeling in the back of his mind that this was another test and it was because of that; Naruto pressed on.

Or he would have if weren't for the fact that his legs suddenly decided to stop working.

It seemed as if his body decided that his legs were not important enough to get the little air he was able to get, leaving him on his face.

"_Well … at least… I'm… not as light… headed as before."_ He thought with a groan of pain before beginning to army crawl.

Time seemed to not exist for Naruto as he focused on trying to get enough of a breath to continue living, but that seemed to be even more difficult than before. His vision started to darken and he felt his arms want to give out like his legs did but he forced energy back into the to make them work. He also figured that he had blacked out a few time but he was not completely sure.

It was then that Naruto made a very frightening discovery; he could not breath anymore. No longer could he feel air go through his nose and mouth and into his lungs, or could he hear the wheezing noises that had been his moving tempo every time he tried to take a breath. All he could hear now was his nose and mouth desperately trying to take in air that did not seem to be there.

The tunnel of darkness that surrounded his vision began to collapse at an alarming rate until all he could see was black.

"_I… got… to get… out of here."_ He thought with a panic and began to crawl as fast as his tired arm would let him.

After his sight, the next sense to slowly go was his hearing until all he could 'hear' was the sound of oxygen deprived blood rushing against his ears. It was not a pleasant sound.

He went on until his arms finally gave out. His heart and lungs burned in his chest as he finally stopped moving.

"_Is… this… it?"_

"_Is… this… how… I… will… die?"_

"_How… can… I… die… in… my… own… mindscape?"_

"_Well… I… guess… I… would… be… call… brain dead?"_

…

"_Hehehe… brain dead… good one"_

…

…

…

"_I'm… going… insane."_

"_Come… on. Just… one… more… pull."_ And with that Naruto used the last of his strength to pull himself forward about a centimeter and just like that, the oppressiveness in the air vanished.

Instantly Naruto took in a large breath of air and held it. He had done it. He had done the impossible. He had found something that taste better than ramen, and it was air fresh from a sewer. He then proceeded to empty his lungs with a satisfied sigh. Immediately followed by a coughing fit.

Once he had recovered enough he looked up to a sight he had not seem in so long. The large bar gate that was held close only by a piece of paper was an incredible sight to, but it paled in comparison to the creature it holds back. The magnificent nine tailed fox, known only to a few as Kurina, had her tails waving in the nonexistent breeze. The tails that could crush mountains, a howl used to create tsunamis, and a body that held more power than imaginable; all held back by a single sheet of paper. It allowed him a sight that very few had ever seen and even less survived and it was just remarkable how such a being was inside him. It made him look on in awe.

He would of looked longer if it weren't for the fact that Kurina had a smile that could evolve into a laugh any second.

"I suppose (pant) you thought (pant) that was funny." He said giving the fox a small glare.

Kurina just gave a small laugh, **"While I must admit that it was amusing watching you crawl before me, I am far more impressed that you were able to make it passed the line."**

"What line?"

Seeing the demoness make a gesture with her eyes, he followed them down until he saw a line that marked the entrance of the chamber, his shadow just barely passing it.

"**Once you entered my chamber I stopped letting my presence out. The reason you impressed me was because I was close to fifty percent before I stopped."**

Naruto's eyes widened as he looked from Kurina to the line and back. He had heard stories about how people where able to be killing by just being in the Kyuubi's presence, and he had nearly suffocated from being exposed to half of that. Yeah he did not want to go through that on full power.

But he had impressed the almighty Kyuubi and was able to withstand half of her presence and he was just a new genin. That was an accomplishment in his book.

"**Just so you know, my last container was able to stand seventy-five percent of it when she was nine and was only forced to her hands and knees."**

Naruto felt his swelling head deflate faster than he thought possible at the thought of being bested by a nine-year-old girl, much to Kurina's amusement, but the girl's identity caught his attention.

"Your last container… her name was Kushina Uzumaki, right? My mother."

Kurina lost her look of amusement and gained a serious one. She was slightly surprised that he knew that, but it would seem as if he knew some of his history. Now that she had a good look at him, she could tell that her jailor seemed to have changed if the lack of orange and rapid questions were any indication.

"**Yes… she was."**

Naruto's breath gave a small hitch. This was it.

Taking a breath to steady his nerves, he asked the one question that been haunting ever since they first meet, "What happened that night?"

Kurina fell silent for a time. Truth be told, she did not want to talk about it and would like to forget about it. It was not one of her favorite memories. But one look into Naruto's pleading, desperate eyes and she know she would have to talk.

"**That would be the first thing you ask wouldn't it. Fine."** She said ending with a sigh before she began her tale. **"I guess this all really began around the time the major hidden villages started to form. I don't know when, but I began to notice that I could no longer sense my… siblings."**

"Wait," Naruto interrupted, "Your siblings? You mean the other biju right? How could you sense them? … What did th-"

"**Shut up."** Kurina growled out in irritation. _**"Gosh, one second he want answers, the next he ask another question with out getting an answer to the first."**_

"**Yes the other biju are my… siblings. We are forces of nature given form and conscious, that is why we are so powerful and why we usually reform if we happen to be killed. We also have a unique energy signature. So with the combination of our power and signature, we can always sense each other."**

Naruto nodded his head in under standing.

"**Now as I was saying before I was interrupted," **Kurina started giving him a look**, "I began to not sense the other biju starting with the Ichibi and progressing up. At first I thought nothing of it since both Shikaku and Matatabi as weak and they tend to reform every now and then. Even Isobu's disappearance did not concern me, the lazy ass he is. No, my concern started when I could no longer sense Son Goku."**

Naruto was confused as to who Kurina was talking about and was about to ask, but once he thought about it a second, figured that they were the names of the one through four tail respectively. So he didn't say anything.

"**He was always the quickest to start a fight out of all of us and he had some power to back it up, so when he was lost I began to use more caution in my movements. And it was the disappearance of Gyuki that cemented my decision to go into hiding."**

Even though he did not want to interrupt the story, he could not stop himself from asking another question, "You are a giant fox. How could you possible go into hiding?

Instead of answering, Kurina just gave a grin, **"I have my ways." **

"Well obviously your 'ways' weren't good enough," Naruto said with a smirk.

Kurina lost her grin as she let out a low growl,** "Your right since that hell spawn some how found me."**

Naruto's smirk fell from his face at that. He had said what he did as a joke; he hadn't thought that it would cause that much offence. He also wondered whom this hell spawn was since the only time he had ever heard that insult was when it was directed at him by the villagers. He wondered who a demoness would consider a hell spawn and since this was questions and answers time, he saw no harm in asking, "Who?"

"**That poor excuse of a man– Madara Uchiha. He had the nerve to preach about how I was a mindless beast and needed someone like him to tame me. Then used those corrupt eyes to take control of me just to fight that tree hugging Senju AND HE STILL LOST! I can't believe…"** As she continued to rant, she began to subconsciously leak KI. Naruto soon found himself unable to breath again.

"… **If I ever see that** **bastard again I will…"**

"Kur-Kurina."

"**WHAT!"**

Naruto waved his hand franticly in the air before putting them around his neck, "Can't– C-Can't breath."

Restraining her KI as to not accidently suffocate the boy and muttering a quick apology, she continued her story while Naruto recovered.

"**Anyway after the fight was over I remember hearing a woman's voice and a pulling sensation on my body before I lost consciousness. When I come to, I was in a cage with bars that immobilized my entire body. No matter how hard I tried I could not move.**

**To make it worse, that tree hugger's mate appeared in front of me and started to preach just like that Uchiha about how I was an uncontrollable beast, with too much power, how I was a threat to humanity and needed to be sealed for my own good, blah blah blah. Stupid bitch."** She ended her rant with several breaths, and waited for the question that sure to come.

And Naruto did not disappoint, "The Shodaime's wife was your first jinchuriki? What was her name?"

"**I believe her name was Mito Uzumaki."**

The heart in Naruto's chest skipped a beat. He was the third generation of Uzumaki jinchuriki, that could not be coincidence, could it?

"**Anyway after the wrench finally shut her mouth, she left and did not come back. I don't know how long I was in there but it must have been a while. I could not move at all and had not contact of the outside world."** She said with a hint of sadness in her voice. Naruto felt his heart go out to her. She was hated and feared for having power that she was born with, then caged for who knows how long because of it. It sounded familiar.

"**The only interesting thing that happened was that my seal somehow became loose enough for me to escape. But by the time I was fully aware of what happened, it regained its strength and quickly restrained me."**

"**Again I was left alone but after a while I began to notice that the seals holding me were ever so slowly beginning to loose their power. At first it was only enough for me to twitch every and then but as time went on I was able to move my head, my hands, my feet and tails, and finally my body." **

She gave a huff of annoyance,** "It got to the point where I was fairly sure that I could break the seal, but I decided to wait a little longer just to be sure. That proved to be a mistake because as soon a I was about to escape, I felt the pulling sensation on my being again and found myself in another cage, similar to this one, with a stronger seal."**

"**Naturally I was furious, and since I had full motion even in the seal, I put everything I had into breaking out. But the seal held."**

"**It did not take me long to accept the fact that I was once again denied my freedom and I was about to about to settle down for another long rest when I felt a presence approaching me. I didn't want to be bothered. I just wanted to sleep, so I released some of my aura to keep it way, but it kept on coming. I was both annoyed and intrigued as no matter how much I released it kept on coming. I was close to ninety percent when I finally saw who it was. She came in on her front nearly suffocating like you did." **She said with a mocking smile.

"Wait, You said that my mother only withstood seventy-five percent and was on her knees."

Kurina's smile got wider,** "Oh, she was on her knees at seventy-five, but she did not appear until ninety."**

Naruto's eyes widened as he gave a shudder, he never EVER wanted to experience anywhere close to ninety percent. The fact that his mom did that and survived just proved how awesome she was, but he did feel a bit of fear as well.

Kurina looked at her containers shocked face and nodded, **"I was surprised as well. Very few have been exposed to that much of my aura and lived, so I decided not to go to a hundred percent, which would have surely killed her. When she recovered, she glared at me and stomped right up to my cage, well within my reach and you know what she said?" **Naruto shook his head. **"She said, 'Kyuubi, my name is Kushina Uzumaki and I'm your new boss! Dettabane!"** Kurina gave a chuckle at the memory while Naruto felt conflicted by his mother's awesomeness for saying that to the Kyuubi, or his mother's craziness for saying that to the Kyuubi.

"**Anyway since I was not used to being talked to like that plus the fact the neither of us was in a good mood, it did not take us very long to get into a shouting match. And let me tell you something, that mother of yours had a very sharp tongue." **She gave another small laugh, **"Anyway in the end I told her that she would be nothing with me, and she said that she would never rely on my power. She nearly succeeded."**

"Nearly succeeded," Naruto interrupted, "How did she nearly succeed?"

Kurina let out a small chuckle that turn into a full laugh of amusement before she answered, **"I'm not show if you figured this but Kushina had a large temper and a small fuse. So much so that she earned the nickname… Red Hot-Blooded Habanero."**

Naruto let out the breath he had been holding. That was it? Red Hot-Blooded Habanero was the name that his badass mom was given? Really? That sounded like a bad joke people called you behind your back, kind of a let down.

"**But there was another on that was less common name," **Kurina continued,** "It was mainly used by her peer group and others who interacted with her on a regular basis… Demon."**

"_That's much better." _Naruto thought. It was simple, to the point, and descriptive. Demon - a creature that is very frightening and deadly to its enemies or to anyone who pissed it off. That was what came to mind when he thought of his mom upset.

"Wait, how do you know this?" he suddenly asked, "Weren't you sealed during that time."

"**Well for that I have to thank whoever made the seal. Like this one, Kushina's seal was to take my power when she was in times of distress, this included anger. So every time she got irritated she was gain my chakra. It gave her a look of a demon, and since the seal was not as well made as yours or Mito's, I gained access to Kushina's sight and hearing. Because of this I have a pretty accurate timeline of her life,"** she said. **"But other than that, she never once relied on me. Even when her life was on the line she refused. That is one of the reasons I respected her."**

Naruto's was silent as his mind raced wit the information he had just heard. He had the best information source possible on his mother with him at all times. He could hardly wait to hear learn all he could about her. But before all that he needed to no about how she died.

Seeing her containers face turn grim, Kurina gave a sigh, **"I guess that I've put it off long enough."**

Naruto gave a nod.

"**The day that Kushina found out that she was pregnant was probably her happiest. Never had I felt such joy from her, even the dangers of her situation could not dampen it."**

"Dangers?"

"**Yes dangers. From what I was able to figure out, when a female jinchuriki gives birth; the seal holding the biju weakens to a point where said biju could escape. And if a biju is extracted form a jinchuriki then the jinchuriki will die. This is the chance I missed when I was in Mito."**

"**As I was saying, nothing could get her down, and for the entire time she went on and on about how she wanted to meet you and what not. Let me tell you it was annoying. So one day close to your birth I called her in her to maybe get her to be quiet, but what happened was a challenge was made."**

"**She bet that if she could keep me sealed that it was proof that she was to be a good mother to you, and if I escaped than I got my freedom and it would prove that she was not strong enough and did not deserve to be your mother."**

Naruto felt butterflies in his stomach when he heard this. It proved how much she loved him and how much of a badass she was.

"**Liking my odds, I accepted the bet. And as soon as I did she changed my cage so that I was immobilized on a giant rock over a pool of lava with no way to move. She said something about giving herself a fair chance or something like that. I do not remember since I cursing her existence."**

Like he said… Badass.

"**When she went into labor, everything happened like we thought. The seal weakened, I tried to escape, but Kushina prevented me. I did not expect her to have someone help her though so kudos to her. Every thing went to plan and after you were born the seal started to regain its strength when suddenly it stopped. I was so confused that I too stopped my attempts at freedom. As I waited for the seal to grow stronger, which it did not, I wondered what was happening. I then felt a sudden pull on my being. I instantly resisted."**

"Why did you resist? You would have gotten free if you hadn't."

"**Let me tell you something Kit. I hate most humans and most human hate me. I ether want to destroy them or keep my distance, they want to capture and/or control me. So when I was being released, I could ether resist and stay with a human who would not use me or take my chances of being forced to do who knows what. So I resisted, but by then it was too late."**

"And my mother?" Naruto asked with tears building up in his eyes.

"**When I realized that resistance was pointless I gave her my life force. Enough so that she would have survived."**

Kurina lowered her eyes, **"When I was fully extracted I was in a rock tower field with Kushina being held in between them by chains. I then saw **_**Him**_** in a black cloak and orange mask, then the rest was black."**

Naruto had tears flowing at the treatment of his Kaa-san and a great deal of hatred for _Him_ who he assumed was Madara.

"**When I came to I was being restrained by Kushina's chakra chains while the blond bastard was preparing to seal me in a baby, you."**

"_He was preparing the sealing against Kaa-san's wishes while she held Kurina back? The bastard."_

"**I knew what was going to happen. I could hear the screams of people while my energy destroyed them, I knew what I had been force to do. So I accepted my fate. But then I felt like I was being watched and looked to the source. All I remember is seeing those cursed eye behind that mask again. The next thing I know, my claw was though both Kushina and your Yondaime."**

Naruto stood in shock, nothing on his body moved except the tears that flowed from his eyes. Here in front of him was his Kaa-san's killer.

"**What happened next was that the blond completed the transfer jutsu and changed your appearance. I rested in here since then until we met all those years ago."** Kurina looked up to see Naruto frozen face and gave a sad sigh, **"When you first meet you asked could we be friends and I rejected your offer. What do you say now that you know the truth? Could we still become friends?"**

Naruto was silent for a time before he turned around and walked towards the end of the chamber. Kurina was wondered what he was doing until she felt a nerve wrecking feeling coming from the red head as he let out a scream that sent a shiver down her spine. The scream was not powerful but it held the pain that Naruto had gone through in it. The pain of being an orphan, the pain of being hated by the villagers, the pain of being lied to by the grand father, and the pain of know how his kaa-san was killed. That was what was frightening.

When Naruto calmed down, he took a deep breath and walked back to the cage with his hair covering his eyes. He did not really feel better but he released just enough to prevent him from going psycho.

Kurina watches as Naruto came back to her cage. His eyes were hidden as she watched him take a breath and begin speaking, "You ask if we could be friends, but you killed so many people who continue to blame me for it and you killed my mother. I'm sorry but I think us become friends is impossible right now."

Kurina lowered her head in her paws. She really should have expected this. The boy seemed to idolize Kushina and she was the one that killed her, so it was completely understandable that no friendship could exist between them. But at the same time she was disappointed. There was something special about the boy that made her want him as an ally. Plus she owed it to Kushina for robbing her of her prize of being a mother. But it seemed that the boy was only human.

"But," Naruto said interrupting Kurina's thoughts, "I would be hypocritical if I were to judge you for something you had no control over. I guess I should rephrase my last statement; you were force to kill my mother by this masked man. But still," he closed his eyes and clutched his fist, "it was you that killed her and took her away from me, even if I don't blame you, I still can't get over that just yet. So we cannot be friends right now, maybe later, but not now. We could still be partners though."

"**Oh?"** Kurina was not expecting that, **"Explain."**

Naruto looked right into her eyes so that she could see how serious he was being, "What happened that night was caused by the masked man, but something had to have gone wrong for him since I doubted his end game would be for you to be sealed again. And if that is true then it stands to reason that he would be back. There is no way I am strong enough to fight him right now if he was able to fight Minato-baka, and whatever number of Anbu he must of gone through to get to Kaa-san. As much as I would like to follow in her footsteps and not use your power, against a man like that, I will need an ace. So a partnership."

Well a partnership was better than anything Kurina was hoping for but he did not need to know that,** "Oh really? And what would this partnership be?"**

Naruto was quiet for a time before he answered, "If you let me use and learn to control your chakra than I will… loosen the seal enough for you to experience my senses and change this place to your liking."

Naruto saw Kurina's eyes widen with want before they narrowed just as quickly. He could see her thinking over his offer and its benefits.

"**And how would you do that?"**

"Well since this is my mind, I should have control over it. As for the seal," he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "I was hoping that you could tell me how."

The fox thought it over for a second before nodding to herself, **"Alright then, you see that piece on the right hand corner, tear it off."**

Naruto nodded and was about to start walking but then narrowed his eyes at the fox, "How can I trust you?"

"_**Dammit!"**_ she thought. She really wanted this deal to go through. It had been so long since she had felt the wind blow through her fur and a change of scenery was very much desired. But she could not fault the brat for his caution though, after all she was a kitsune and they were known for their trickery. But she needed this deal, _**"Come on think girl, think, … that's it."**_** "How about I throw in a … gift of sort to help sway your judgment."**

Naruto gave her a cautious look, "What kind of gift?"

Kurina gave a toothy grin,** "That necklace of yours once belonged to Mito as a goodbye present from Uzugakure. She had given it to Kushina when she had died, but she had lost it when she got into a fight with some bullies."**

Naruto stared at his necklace in wonder. The swirl in it made so much more sense now.

"**I also can feel Kushina's presence within you and with it her desire to protect you from harm. I could channel some of her into the one of the seals on the necklace. If I am correct than it would act as a detection booster."**

Naruto's heart started to hammer in his chest at the thought of what was said, but he had to be sure, "What do you mean?"

Kurina's grin turned to a smile, **"What I mean kit is that when you wear the necklace than your danger scene would skyrocket."**

"_Most ninja would kill to have something like that. But…"_ "How do I know if you're telling the truth?"

Her eyes gained a mischievous look to them,** "Well I guess you don't, but aren't partnerships built on trust?"**

Naruto stared in to her eyes, trying to find any form of a lie in them, but he could not find any. He also could not find any form of honesty either, but she was right. If they were to be partners then trust was need and he would have to take the first step. So with a sigh, he walked up to the seal and ripped off the intended piece bracing himself for whatever might happen. But it never came.

"**See that wasn't so bad, was it?"**

"No, it wasn't," he said with relief as he closed his eyes to concentrate.

To Kurina's utter joy the sewer slowly started to disappear and in its place grew a forest along with an open field, a pond and a flowing river even the cage bars turned into great tree trunks that seemed to go up forever in the sky.

Naruto opened his eyes and a smile spread across his face at the look of pure happiness on the foxes face.

"**Thank you, kit, thank you."**

Naruto just nodded his and turned to leave when Kurina's voice stopped him, **"You might want to prepare yourself."** She said as she walked into the forest.

"_Prepare myself for wha-" _Naruto's thoughts were interrupted, as a searing pain seemed to explode from his stomach.

Kurina gave started to laugh as her container disappeared behind the tree line, but his screams of pain could still be heard.

"_**It seems I was right Kushina, he is an interesting one. And I have paid my debt to you, I hope you use it well,"**_ she thought as she found a nice shady spot to sleep. Having slept in water for so many years made the feel of the grass all the better against her fur and she quickly fell asleep to the soothing sound of people screaming in agony.

* * *

Hinata smiled as she made her way inside her friends compound. The building was really starting to feel like home to her with its warm atmosphere and homey feelings. She could really wished she could live here instead of her own compound which she could not stay away from long enough.

After she had left Naruto the day before, she had gone straight to her father. Once they had proceeded through the normal greeting formalities, she had proceeded to report what had happened in the official genin test.

Needless to say, he was not overly joyed that the Hyuuga heiress had to rely on the heirs from the mutt and bug clans, but he did seem to be proud of himself in that he had hired Kurenai all those years ago seeing as now she is a jounin. Even with his disappointment, he did seem to understand that she was a genin and Kurenai was a jounin and he did not out right insult her like he usually did so that was a plus that brought a tiny bit of joy to her heart. Maybe he would start to be more of a father. It was a possible dream in an ocean of unfavorable outcomes, but it was still out there. At least that is what she told herself.

Wanting to get out of her fathers presence as fast as possible to give him less of a chance to criticize her on something, she hurriedly excused herself with a low bow and left in a hurry.

Quickly changing into some cloths that she deemed suitable to train in, she went to one of the clan's training rooms that could prevent the byakugan from seeing those inside. Once she had warmed up she began to go through the standard Gentle Fist kata's before moving onto her own variation of it.

She had started it after finding out that her claws just did not work with the gentle fist and slowly started to change it to work better. Even now in its enfant stage she could tell that by the time it was done the only thing it would have in common with the original would be the method of striking. She was okay with that.

She had trained well into the night and had to force herself to get some sleep because she was having so much fun. And since she had team training in the morning, she had woken up fairly early to get to the compound and forgot to eat breakfast. Which was what she was plating at the moment.

"Naruto-kun… Naruto-kun, where are y-you?" she called.

"I'm– I'm in here Hinata-chan," a tired voice replied with a yawn.

Grabbing the two plates of food, she made her way to the voice before she stopped in the hallway and stared at her wannabe's mother when she was their age. She soon let her head down in shame, even at such a young age she was very pretty. She could never compare, and with how much Naruto idealized her, there was no way he would notice someone as average as herself in anyway but a friend. How she wished she were pretty.

Leaving the hallway she found Naruto on a couch practicing drawing those seals of his. She was about to say hello but she frowned before it came out, "W-Where is Naruto-k-kun?" _"Don't stutter!"_

'Naruto' looked up at her with a confused look, "Nani?"

"Where is Naruto-kun?" she said again with more confidence. _"Better."_

'Naruto' just looked at her before he gained a look of understanding, "Oh that. The boss is still asleep out back. How did you know I was a clone?"

Hinata just shrugged. She knew it was not her Naruto because this one did not feel like her Naruto… it was not like that she knew what her Naruto felt like or anything, or that he was hers. _"But since he is still asleep so maybe I could feel him. Oh and instead of being mine, I could be his and-"_

"Hinata. Hinaaata. Are you alright? You spaced out and started turning red."

Shaking herself out of the gutter, she nodded and reentered the conversation, "W-W-What d-do you mean s-still?" _"No not again."_

"Well Boss trained last night and went to sleep on the spot so the clones that he made continued to train and making more. I am the last one." He then reached out for the plate, but Hinata quickly snatched it away.

"No this is for the real Naruto-kun," she said walking away to the yard.

"Lucky bastard. I wish Hinata-chan would bring me food." He said before popping out of existence. Hinata walked with a little more spring in her step when she heard this.

* * *

She found Naruto's prone form under the shade of the tree and the closer she got the redder her face got for his upper body was completely bare. Gentle sitting next to his body and setting the plates of food down; and, in a moment of boldness, she placed his head in her lap and started to run her hand through his red hair.

She was shocked by her own boldness and was horrified at the thought of him waking up in the position they were in. But the feeling of his hair felt so good and his body so close to her was the closest to one of her fantasies she had gotten so she continued.

Her focus soon left his hair, though she did not stop, and traveled to his face, which was a perfect combination of Kushina-sama's and Yondaime-sama's. Her gaze traveled to chest and the necklace that lied there.

In all her years of knowing Naruto, she had never really asked about it. She had only really seen it a few times. Taking it in her hand, she marveled at its simple beauty. She then returned it to its original position and hesitantly traveled her hand down to the boys abs. By this point steam was close to escaping her ears and she could feel herself wanting to pass out but she refused. Running her hand up and down his wash rack, she could not help but share at the fruit of the red head's labors. She continued her way down his body and got to his waist when she felt a wetness run down her leg.

Mortified by this, she stopped molesting… err, feeling… err, admiring, yeah admiring. She stopped admiring her friend and turned her attention to her spot of wetness and to her utter relief it was not where she though it was. It was on the spot where Naruto's head was resting on her lap. Trying to find the source of the liquid, she found it to be Naruto's eyes. All naughty thoughts left her mind as she tried to find out why her friend was crying.

To make matters worse, soon after she discovered his tears, his face contorted to one of pure pain and his body started to turn cold, sweat and shake and twitch.

Scared and having no clue what to do, she brought his body up in a hug. It was all she could think of as she tried to bring comfort to her friend. If she had been paying attention, she would have noticed that the ruby on his chest started to glow.

After a few minutes, a few terrifying minutes, the shaking stopped and Naruto's face returned to normal.

"Ow! Ow! Stupid fox little more of a warning would have been nice. Kami that hurt."

"Naruto-kun!"

"Huh?"

He did not have anytime to wonder what the hell was going on when he head was squeezed and pressed against something soft. He gave a brief panicked struggle, which was useless, before he recognized the hoody his face was in and clamed down. Then his face started to blush when he realized what the soft things were.

"_**Well, well, looks like the kit has the hots for the Hyuuga."**_

"Shut up, Kurina… Wait how are you talking to me?" he mumbled into the fabric, his blush increasing.

"_**What you heard that? Hmm…it seems that you took off too much of the seal and now it seems we have what appears to be a mental link."**_

"A what?" he mumbled

"_**A mental link. It means we can communicate with our minds. I suggest that you start using it or else people will think your crazy. I also suggest you get out of your friend's breasts it you don't want to pass out from lack of air"**_

Naruto's matched his hair as he retried his efforts to escape his friend's grasp. Thankfully she finally let goes, and he saw her reddish cheeks and teary eyes.

"Umm… Are you okay Hinata-chan?"

She gave nod and wiped her eyes. She decided not to tell him how she admired him and loved the feeling of hugging him. That would just make things awkward.

Naruto gained a smile, "Good because I have a lot to tell you."

* * *

"Wow N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata said in shock. Her friend had just partnered with the strongest being in the world. What was she suppose to say?

"Yeah, I know." He said.

They were resting against the tree with her head on his shoulder and his head on her with his arm on her around her shoulder, their empty plates by their side.

The stayed in silence and just enjoyed each other's company. They figured that they would have less time to do this once their career gets going, so they made to most of what they had.

"Hinata-chan?"

"Hai?"

"When do you have to train with your team?"

"Hmm, in about-t a f-few hours."

"Hmm me too."

…

…

…

"Hinata-chan?"

"Hai?"

"Would you like to spar?"

Reluctantly pulling out of his grasp, she gave a look, "Nani?"

"Would you like to have a spar before we go train."

She thought about it for a few seconds and nodded, "W-What kind of spar?" _"Stop stuttering."_

"How about tai and ken jutsu only?"

"Okay." _"Good girl."_

Nodding, the two separated. Hinata took her place while Naruto gathered up Dakushio (Dark Tide: black sword) and Shirioha (White leaf: white sword) and placed them on his back.

They each settled in their own unique stances and got in a raised eyebrow from each of them. Hinata remembered his stance from his spar with Sasuke on graduation day but that was it, it had no form what so ever. Naruto on the other hand had never seen her stance before. It was different then the normal Hyuuga stance he was expecting. It made him excited to see what she had in store for him.

They looked into each others eyes and smile as a leaf gentle drifted to the ground in between them. As soon as it landed they both darted at each other, swords and claws drawn as they met in the middle with a satisfying '**Clang**' sound.

* * *

**Hello again people of the Fanfiction universe and thank you for reading this story.**

**I am so sorry that this chapter took so long, but some things have come up in my like and this story has not taken a high position on my priority list. Sorry.**

**Also I have posted my other fanfic ideas that I have on my profile. If you happen to find one you like and want to make something of if, please PM me for more information, or if you would like me to write them then do the same. **

**I would like to also apologies to the ones I said that this would be the beginning of the wave arc. Next chapter I swear. **

**Also I am not 100% on set on **Shirioha**, so if you have a better name then let me know.**

**Also if Hinata seems a little to perverted then, i am sorry. as i was writing i just thought it was funny. she should be more innocent in the future.**

**Please be sure that you favorite, follow, and review this story. Tell me what you like about it, tell me what did not like, tell me what I could improve on, if you find a plot hole, or if you have a question concerning something. But please don't be haters**.

**P.S.: I am sooo close to one hundred reviews. Come on guys I know you can do it.**

**So until next time…**


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